How to Break an Engagement
by drippinghoney
Summary: Teito Klein is unwillingly engaged to Lord Ayanami, but the appearance of three mysterious bishops might give him a new chance at freeedom. [Frau/Teito, AU.]
1. Chapter 1

AN: Chapters 1-7 heavily modified 8/18/2013. Hopefully it's a little more palatable now.

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He wouldn't be caught.

Teito ran like the wind, using his zaiphon to knock down the guards that rushed at him. His breath made little clouds in the cold air. He ignored the burn in his limbs and when he spotted the gates up ahead he ran quicker, desperation fueling him. He was so close.

_He was so close._

Any second now, something would jump into his path and stop him from escaping. He knew it. At a time like this, when he was so close to freedom something would stop him. His intuition screamed at him as he sprinted towards the gates panting. And he was right, but the bastard didn't show up until after Teito made it up the steps, shooting away the two guards that jumped at him; after he blasted the gates open, the red fire of his zaiphon lighting his face and revealing the desperation etched there; after he ran out the gates, giddy relief leaking into his limbs.

Then, he appeared.

Teito felt the brush of air against his cheek and eyes widening, whirled around.

Nothing there. But when he turned back around, he immediately jumped and started backing away.

It was a tall blond man with an intense look in his blue, blue eyes. He said something and Teito angrily retorted in response. They exchanged blows. Or rather, Teito blasted his zaiphon at the man, who dodged it with nimble feet and a grave frown. It was child's play.

Teito fell to his knees with a cry as a fist mercilessly caught him in the stomach. His green eyes glared at the figure above him.

The man said something.

Teito struggled to keep his eyes open. The world was fading into a jumbled blur.

He replied...did he reply? What did he say?

The man was saying something again when he finally collapsed. As the world went black, Teito could have sworn he felt gentle fingers sifting through his hair.

* * *

**ONE YEAR AGO**

_Mikage!_

There was someone in his room. That was the first thought Teito had when he woke up that morning and for a few seconds he wondered whether or not he should confront the intruder or stay silent. Then...

"Good morning, Teito. It's good to see you're finally awake."

Father.

Teito's eyes shot open. Seeing the bishop at the end of his bed, he lunged forward and threw himself into the man's open arms. He buried his face into the soft depths of the bishop's robe. "It's you, it's you, you're here," Teito babbled in disbelief. "But why? Father, why are you here?"

"I've come for you, dear child." A hand softly caressed his head and the warm smile on his Father's face was the same as ever. Teito found his throat clenching uncomfortably.

"Then, you know?" he whispered.

The smile turned a touch melancholy. "Yes, I'm sorry, dear one. I came as soon as I heard."

"He..." Teito cleared his throat and tried again. "I can't believe he's gone." The white-clad arms curled around him and that's all it took for him to break down, finally. In the arms of the man who was the only real parent he knew, Teito sobbed out the grief that had smothered him for weeks.

Father just held him quietly as he cried.

* * *

**PRESENT**

Teito had two fathers.

One always seemed to be shrouded in light. His Father's gentle smile and warm, engulfing hugs were what Teito remembered the most clearly from his youth.

In comparison, the other (the mere thought of him) would send an instinctive shiver down Teito's spine and wherever he was, he would unconsciously straighten his back and shoulders and hide his open palms like a soldier safeguarding chinks in his armor.

Teito's blood father had eyes like the cool mint Teito used to find in the manor gardens. Even though he had been warned not to, Teito had curiously tried a raw sprig and had ended up with teary eyes and a mouth burned numb. Teito remembered that horrible mint now as he tried to keep nauseous fear from bubbling up his throat.

His father was furious. As slitted green eyes pinned him down, Teito's hands curled in so the palms weren't visible.

"And what were you thinking when you decided to run out in the middle of dinner?" his father asked, voice brittle as he walked around Teito's chair. He looked like a snake waiting for the right moment to strike. "Did you just suddenly have the urge to make a complete fool out of yourself in front of our guests? To make a complete fool out of me? To make me look as if I couldn't even control my own son?!" He punctuated the shout with a (_bang_) fist against the table and Teito flinched, head lowered.

"Well? Explain yourself!"

Teito hoped his father couldn't hear the slight tremor in his voice as he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't think. When Lord Ayanami was discussing the upcoming wedding, I felt...(_tr__apped-cornered-panicked)_...I needed some air."

His father sneered. "'Needed some air'. Pretty words for that asinine attempt to run away." Teito fought to keep his face blank when the man in and his cruel eyes were suddenly much closer.

_The mint_.

Teito's mouth started to tingle. There was acid on his tongue.

"Listen to me. I do not care if you don't enjoy the idea of a marriage to Lord Ayanami. You can sulk all you want, throw another one of your juvenile tantrums, I do not care. Because in the end, you _will_ marry," his father promised and his teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. "You will be joined by your sixteenth birthday and that leaves us with less than half a year to prepare you. Any more attempts to run away from your engagement are welcome but know that when the guards drag you back through those gates, I will punish you myself until you beg for forgiveness." The words were so deadly Teito could almost feel the violently red crackle of his father's zaiphon.

"Do you understand?"

Teito didn't curl away as his instincts ordered him to. "I understand," he bit out.

His father studied him and Teito felt a twinge of pride that despite how he felt inside, he could still look his father in the eyes with a straight face.

The cold fire drained away as his father brought up his own mask. "You better. You have been nothing but difficult since you were born. I have tolerated your behavior so far, but in the past few months you have been almost impossible to endure."

Underneath the table Teito's fists clenched. _Thanks, father. You really know how to make a boy feel special. _

"If only I still had Mikage."

Teito stood up abruptly. Head lowered, he asked stiffly, "It's getting late. May I go now, Father?"

A sniff and, "Go on, get out of my sight."

Teito was out so fast the door closed on nothing but his dust.

* * *

"They don't seem to have any idea yet."

Frau cast a side glance at Castor, who had drifted beside him and was regarding the view of the garden outside with great interest, (or what appeared to be great interest to anyone who didn't know him well enough).

Frau grunted. "I could tell. If the father knew, he wouldn't be so eager to marry off his son."

"He is being unusually enthusiastic, almost like he sees Teito's birthday as a deadline," Castor said with a heavy frown. He stopped and sighed at Frau's blank look.

"Were you listening at all during dinner today?" Castor said irately.

"I'm sure Frau was more interested in his food at the time," Labrador chuckled as he entered the room. Like his companions he was still in his traveling robes, but somehow his had remained a pristine snow white throughout their four-day journey, unlike Frau's robes, which had snatches of dirt and dust embedded in the cloth and a mud-laced hemming at the edges.

Frau shrugged. "Can you blame me? It's the first time in years I've had meat without the old man breathing down my back."

"And considering your great lack of respect for church customs, I don't blame Archbishop Bastien for his behavior at all," said Castor unsympathetically.

Frau pulled down one eye and stuck out his tongue.

"...Are you a child?"

"_Anyways_, I know that we were talking about the kid's engagement to that walking ice cube. I wasn't that out of it," Frau said.

"Teito's engagement is to be fulfilled on his sixteenth birthday, when he's legal to be married," Castor said brusquely, his mouth thinned in a way that showed he didn't approve of the decision at all.

Frau vividly remembered the look of the boy just before he'd been forced to knock him out to keep him from struggling. Fierce determination, with a heavy slab of desperation, the look of a caged animal. "Tch, he's still a kid though. _Rich people_," Frau said scornfully.

"What I don't understand is why Lord Klein is marrying Teito off when he only has Teito to inherit his name," Castor said with a suspicious gleam in his eyes.

Frau blinked. "Didn't the Church files say that Klein had two sons?"

Castor bristled all of a sudden. "Don't you ever listen to anything I say? We went over this already!"

"I was drunk off holy pork," Frau said as he shrugged repentantly.

Labrador stopped Castor before he went for Frau's throat with the ease of practice. "You need to clear out your ears, Frau," Labrador rebuked gently, making the bishop mutter an apology.

The shorter bishop explained, "Just recently, Teito's older brother Mikage passed away while at the military academy both brothers attended. The details are hazy but the general report said he got into an accident during one of the academy tests."

"Making Teito Lord Klein's sole living heir," Castor added. "See the problem? Usually, nobles _want_ their name passed on but Lord Klein is marrying off his son as soon as he's legally allowed."

Frau frowned in confusion. "What the hell? Makes no sense to me either."

"I wonder if Teito knows why," Castor mused.

"I should hope of all people, Teito-kun doesn't know why," said Labrador, eyes trained on the garden outside and his deceptively light tone made Castor's glasses flash and Frau look away with a grimace.

"You have a point there, Labrador." After all, no child should bear the burden of knowing how eager his own father was to get rid of him.

The problem was, they all knew Teito most likely already aware.


	2. Chapter 2

I think I'm as surprised as anyone else that this chapter got out so fast. *_*

Many thanks to my beta wolf **Shinigami Nanashi** for her helpful suggestions and encouraging words. It was fun working with you!

And to everyone else: enjoy.

* * *

_"It will be the most beautiful soul you ever see."_

That was all the apprentice said of the soul that sealed the Eye of Mikhail, the treasure of the Raggs Kingdom. Then coughing up bitter blood, he died as his teacher Fia Kruez did. Painfully.

Damn military men, waving their guns around like toys. Many good people died needlessly in the Raggs War. Frau had met Fia Kruez's apprentice and he knew enough about him to know that he was a hardworking student with a enthusiastic sweet tooth.

Fia Kruez had told Frau that...well, boasted about it more like.

The most beautiful soul. The apprentice had said those words like he believed them with all his might, and in turn Frau believed him.

He still could never have anticipated how beautiful the soul in question would be.

It was _stunning._

When he caught sight of it in the street he froze in his tracks, mouth dropping open in astonishment. Of course when people started to bump into Frau, who was planted in the middle of the road like tree, he came to his senses and peeled his chin off the ground. But the awe and the shock he felt in that first encounter, Frau would never forget.

Strange that the person that held such a gorgeous soul could be such a brat.

Frau sighed inwardly as Teito Klein (the brat) left the room in a huff. At least he didn't slam the door, Frau thought depressingly after the boy left, watching the porridge drop off his spoon in dollops. His appetite was officially ruined.

Frau, Castor and Labrador tracked Teito down as far as this country town but had arrived with no solid plan on how to find him. They had no name, no age and no description of personality or appearance.

They had just one solitary clue—one solitary, _shaky_ clue.

If Teito had stayed out of sight the entire time the bishops were searching for him, it was very possible that they would have returned empty-handed. It was a stroke of luck that Frau saw Teito that day in town and stalked him back to his manor. Surprisingly, the Lord Klein welcomed the visiting bishops to his home with open arms. He didn't bother to question why three bishops had come to a remote country town so far away from their church for no particular reason. Frau guessed (or rather, was informed by Castor) that it made the lord look good to have highly-ranked church officials residing in his home.

That was three days ago.

When Frau saw Teito Klein close up, he knew that the brilliance of the boy's soul was no lie. Its vessel could have used a personality check though.

When they were introduced the boy blinked empty eyes from one figure to another like a goddamn doll. Frau was annoyed on sight. He wanted to poke him, tickle him, do something that would force emotion into this blank-faced creature.

He was relieved to learn that the brat was actually chock-full of emotion when Frau stopped him from running away. The sheer frustration, the rolling fire of his anger could have burned the bishop. Frau almost wished he hadn't brought the boy back and let him run off to god knows where. Since that incident it was apparent that Teito Klein had personally labeled Frau as Enemy Number One. Every time they ran into each other, in the halls or at the dining table, Frau would get a nasty glare and/or the predictable sight of Teito's rapidly retreating back.

Frau gave up on the porridge and got up. Angrily, he pushed the chair back harder than he was supposed to and it clacked against the table, leaving a small but noticeable scrape in the wood.

Frau deflated and looked at the table with a defeated expression.

Why was he getting so frustrated over this kid?

.

.

That tall blond bishop named Frau ambushed him at breakfast that morning. He sauntered in, pulled up a chair beside him and asked him if the porridge was good or not as if he and Teito were buddies. Without saying a word, Teito walked out of there but he was clawing himself on the inside.

He wanted to yell at him. He wanted to hit him. This stranger had ruined his chance to escape before and now Teito was sure another attempt would be impossible. Not only had his father raised the security around the house but he had also called the border guards to keep watch for him if he managed to get that far, and this was assuming Teito managed to get past his father's new bishop guard dog first.

Perhaps what annoyed Teito the most was that he hadn't been able to land a single hit on the bishop. Were all clergy men that strong? Or was Teito just weak?

Realizing that he'd unconsciously curled himself into a tight fetal position, Teito carefully unfolded himself, loosing a small gasp as blood flowed into his stiff limbs.

He needed to move. He pulled off the covers and slipped out of bed, his bare feet making a small _thump _against the carpeted floor.

Then came from the door, "Oh, good, you're awake."

Teito flinched violently at the sight of the tall form leaning against the door inside his room. _Inside. _When did he get in? Teito thought in panic.

"What are you doing in my room? How did you get in?"_ Without me noticing?_ He instinctively spread his legs so his body was better balanced for combat.

"Relax, brat. I just brought you something to eat seeing as you missed both lunch and dinner. You must be starving by now," the blond said with a motion to the tray of food in his hand.

"Don't call me a brat! And I'm not hungry." It was a lie though. Teito was so hungry his stomach was a constant ache. Currently his stomach was one continuous rumble but fortunately it was too soft to be heard.

The bishop raised an eyebrow. "Don't be stupid, damn _brat, _I can hear your stomach growling from all the way over here." Teito gaped at the blatant lie since there was _no way_ he could hear his stomach if even Teito couldn't.

"Now, are you going to eat or not?"

"I said I'm not hungry!"

"Wrong answer." The bishop began walking across the room towards Teito.

"W-What are you doing? Don't come here!" Teito backed up until he felt glass behind him. The bishop approached the bed but didn't try to move around it to where Teito was flattened against the window. He dropped the food atop the rumpled covers and leveled a stern look at Teito.

"You want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" he threatened, picking up a small cooked carrot like he planned to shove it down Teito's throat, with a smirk like he would enjoy doing so.

Still wary, Teito moved closer to the bed but not close enough for the bishop to reach him. He slowly bent down (looking suspiciously at the man all the while) and grabbed a roll off the tray. He finished it in two huge rebellious bites and narrowed his eyes at the blond. "There. You happy, lord bishop?"

"Ecstatic," the bishop said dryly before he bit into his own roll. Around the food in his mouth, he said, "Don't call me that. You make me sound like an old snob. It's just Frau." Somehow, the way he was talking with his mouth full made the bishop seem less threatening and more human.

Besides throwing pointed looks at Teito when he didn't eat, the bishop gave up on talking as he dug in and for the most part ignored the boy. A bit unsure but still deeply hungry, Teito grabbed some more food and ate as well, though he kept his distance near the window.

The tray was huge and filled tower-tall with food. There was at least an entire loaf of bread, a hunk of meat almost as large as Teito's head, fistfuls of cheese, a flood of rolls, whole fruits and somehow balanced among all of it, two large bowls of hearty bean soup. The bishop—Frau—ate like a vacuum cleaner and seemed to particularly favor the meat.

Teito wondered if he had skipped his meals like Teito had.

"What's with all this food?" he asked impulsively as he stirred his soup. "I mean, why are you doing this? Why are you being so...?" _Nice._ He didn't want to say it out loud because it would sound lame but Frau seemed to get the gist of it.

The blond pulled the drumstick out of his mouth, now completely bare of meat, and used it as a pointer. "You skipped lunch and dinner and when you walked out earlier there was still porridge left in your bowl. Try as you might, brat, but you can't survive on a few bites of porridge a day. Especially seeing as you're still a growing kid. With apparently much growing to do still." Frau added the last part with a leer.

Teito flared at the touchy topic. "I'm not short! I'll probably grow taller than you by next year," Teito said with a growl.

Frau's smile looked devilish. "I never said anything about you being short, damn brat."

"Then don't," Teito grumbled and grabbed some cheese, making Frau wonder if it was subconscious act for more calcium.

Frau asked, "Do you always eat your meals alone?"

Teito glanced up to find Frau watching him with a humorless look. What was he, bipolar? Teito wondered. Why did he look so serious all of a sudden?

Teito furrowed his brow and said, "Usually. No one uses that dining room but me. My father usually eats in his study. It's only because you guys are here that he comes out to eat in the main dining room."

"Hmm," Frau said with a strangely blank look. He shoved another fistful of meat in his mouth to keep from saying anything else.

Teito narrowed his eyes as he recalled why he didn't like Frau. "Why did you get in the way that night?"

Frau paused mid-bite and said cryptically, "I had to."

"_Why_? Because you're working for my father?" At the odd spasm Frau gave then, Teito snapped, "You don't have anything to do with me then!"

"Perhaps not. But we will."

"What the hell does that mean?" Frau frowned, but didn't reply.

Teito looked resigned. "You are working for my father, aren't you? Did he pay you to come here? _Say something._"

Frau was as silent as a grave. The only sound in the room was from Teito's rough breathing and his eyes were getting hot with anger.

Finally, Frau put down the food in his hands. "You damned brat," he said as he leveled a steely glare at Teito, making him flinch. "Did you think you could run out with nothing but those fancy dinner clothes that you had on? The next town is miles away. You would have been caught sooner or later. Your father is one of the most powerful lords in this part of the country, and Ayanami could damn well be the most powerful. He would have had military ships swarming the skies after you—yeah, didn't think about that did you?" Teito looked like he had been struck and Frau's tone softened.

"If you're going to run away, be prepared. Don't just run out spur of the moment and expect to succeed. You'll die that way," Frau said grimly, distastefully, as if he hated to say it.

Teito was staring at his lap, feeling like a scolded puppy. Instead of continuing the barrage though, Frau shocked him by roughly mussing his hair.

"Well, it's time for me to get some shut eye." Frau yawned as he languidly got to his feet. Teito was frozen to the floor.

Frau waved a hand as he walked away. "I brought the food, you clean up. Kids need to learn discipline or some shit like that."

Teito scrambled to his feet. "Wait!"

The door was already swinging shut though.

Teito clenched and unclenched his hands helplessly, red with residual anger and embarrassment and the unsuspected realization that he had been given genuine advice.

"Thank you," Teito told the empty room.

Already on the next floor, halfway to his own room, Frau heard the reverberation of the purest soul in the house and its message as clear as day.

"Heh. Your welcome, brat."

* * *

NOTE: Sorry, for the people that like fast romances, because until further notice, this one will be long and slow. ;)

I can't wait for the next chapter.

I have no idea what's coming next.

But waiting's half the fun, right?


	3. Chapter 3

To my second, **Shinigami Nanashi**: Once again, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to look over my crap.

To the reviewer **Nezrin**: Damn, you catch on fast! The best way I can answer right now without giving away too much is you'll see, yes and yes. That, and thank you for reminding me, I forgot to label this fic as AU in the summary.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

The next morning, Teito bounded into the dining room for breakfast and almost bounded right back out because sitting in his regular seat at the table was Frau, already spooning through his porridge.

Teito stopped in the doorway and gaped. "What are you doing here?"

Frau yawned and gave Teito a sleepy but pleased look. He'd been hoping the kid would show up.

"Take a seat and get eating already," Frau said as he kicked out a chair. He watched as the boy hesitantly sat down and pulled the other bowl of porridge over to him. Frau didn't know why but the only thing that the cook brought for breakfast was porridge and none of the other dishes he'd glimpsed steaming in the kitchen.

"What's your hurry?" Teito grumbled, eating at a much slower pace than the bishop.

Frau's empty bowl fell to the table with a clatter and he used a toothpick to leisurely clean his teeth. "So much to do, so little time," he hummed cryptically and secretly delighted in the confused look on Teito's face.

"What does that mean?"

"Finish eating your breakfast and find out." Frau grinned as Teito frowned at him.

After he finished, Frau led the way out to Teito's room and barged in like he owned it.

"Don't just walk into my room," Teito complained as he walked in and then he stopped abruptly in the doorway.

Frau was already leaning casually against Teito's dresser and beside him were two other figures, both dressed in long white robes identical to Frau's.

"Sorry to barge in like this but since the room you usually take your classes in is under construction, we decided to introduce ourselves here," said the shorter bishop with a pleasant look.

Teito blinked. "Ah, huh."

Sighing, Frau pushed off the dresser and fisting a bundle of the front of Teito's shirt, yanked him bodily into the room.

"What the—let go!" Teito yelped, appalled at how easily he was being dragged around.

"As you wish," Frau said and with a smirk he pushed Teito toward the other bishops. Teito stumbled but managed not to fall into the bishops.

"Jerk!" Teito accused as he whirled around.

"Brat," Frau countered.

A cough brought the attention back to the other bishops, of which the shorter was smothering a giggle behind his hand.

"Looks like you two are getting along better than I thought," remarked the spectacled bishop with a sly look.

"What are you talking about, Castor? This kid annoys me like crazy," Frau complained.

Teito exploded in response, "Who's annoying who!"

Before Frau could make another comment and get Teito angrier, the shorter bishop interjected cheerfully. "Teito-kun is much more lively than I remember."

Teito paused and lowered his head in embarrassment.

"What's this? You're blushing?" Frau teased, bending a bit to inspect the boy.

"Shut up, stupid!"

Then he really did start blushing when the other bishops laughed.

Bishop Castor was almost as tall as Frau, with a more serious face. He looked scholarly with his neat robes and glasses but his pointed words and sly smiles hinted at sense of humor as lively as the blond's.

Bishop Labrador had velvety violet eyes and an aura of gentleness that hung around him like a mist. Being in Labrador's very presence made Teito feel warm and safe.

"So, why are you here?" Teito said bluntly.

The three bishops exchanged looks before Castor stepped forward. "Your father has asked us to be your new tutors, Teito-kun."

Teito's mouth went slack. "What?"

"For the remainder of our stay we'll be tutoring you in exchange for room and board here," Labrador explained with a smile of amusement at Teito's surprise.

"But—but what about Meyer-san?" Teito asked weakly.

The bishops exchanged another _look_.

Castor coughed. "Ahem, your other tutor was dismissed yesterday. He's already left the house."

Behind, Frau muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "And took some of it with him." Castor ignored him as he clapped his hands together decisively, making Teito jump.

"So, shall we get started then?" he said as he waved an arm towards the small chalkboard set up beside Teito's bed. Teito blinked and wondered why he didn't remember seeing it there when he entered the room.

"Why aren't we using the study room again?" Teito said in confusion as Labrador ushered him into his seat behind a small square desk like the ones used at the academy. Paper and pencil sat before him, ready and waiting.

Castor gave a tiny grimace before saying, "It's currently not usable."

"_Why_?" Teito pressed.

It was Frau that actually answered his question. With a wicked amusement dancing in his eyes, the bishop said, "Because someone decided to have a temper tantrum in it."

"Huh?"

* * *

Surprisingly, the first lesson of the day was technique of close combat. Bishop Castor was the one to go over strategy with Teito, lecturing for almost two full hours on the use and implementation of combative devices in the field, attack and defense strategies and so on.

As quick as Teito was he struggled to catch everything the bishop said, his pencil moving nonstop over the paper. The lesson was much more thorough than anything Meyer-san had taught, and by the time the bishop had put down the chalk and cheerfully informed Teito he could take a break the boy was drained as if he had run a marathon with his brain alone.

Teito put his head down on the desk and silently groaned. He could feel a white indent forming in his forehead from the desk but it was as if only seconds had passed before a presence made itself known above Teito's drooped form.

"Oy, kid, get up. It's my turn now," Frau said.

_No_. Teito let out a small moan and didn't move. The power of Bishop Castor was frightening indeed.

Unfortunately for Teito, a particular blond wasn't exactly sympathetic. "Brat, you going to make me drag you outside?" Frau threatened.

"Don't call me a brat," Teito sighed with hardly any heat.

There was a short ominous silence and then all of a sudden he was being tugged out of his seat and roughly thrown over a shoulder, which jutted into Teito's stomach and made his breath catch in pain.

He was wide awake now. "Ow! What are you doing?" Teito struggled furiously but Frau was undeterred.

"I'm taking you to your next lesson. Don't worry kid, it's a free ride. All expenses paid," Frau said brightly, going off with Teito over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Teito gaped. "Are you crazy? Frau! Let me down!" Teito ordered but the bishop actually started whistling to ignore him.

The other two bishops watched silently as Teito was forcefully carried away, Labrador actually waving goodbye in good cheer. _Traitors_, Teito thought accusingly at them before they disappeared behind the swinging door.

As Frau left the room and headed down the hall, Teito started struggling anew because he would be damned if he let anyone see him being carried like a child.

A large hand slapped at one of his legs, just enough to send a message. "Would you stop kicking?" Frau said, sounding annoyed.

Teito's eyebrow ticked. What right did HE have to be annoyed? "You're not the one being dragged off against your will!" Teito snapped and kicked again, feeling viciously satisfied to feel muscle under his foot and hear Frau's subsequent hiss.

"That hurt." Frau did not sound amused. He pinched at Teito's leg, which made the boy start squirming with a vengeance and Frau's hand slipped as he tried to keep him from falling off his shoulder.

Teito's kicking stuttered when he felt fingers slipping into the loose space where his shirt and pants met.

"H-Hey, watch where you're touching!" he warned, eyes going wide.

Frau got an evil look as he got an idea.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Frau asked not-so-innocently and the steadying hand slipped the slightest bit lower. Frau felt the shudder that ran through Teito's body at the touch and he let a mischievous smile break out on his face.

Teito stuttered, "Th-that! Stop that!" The hand slipped lower and Teito turned cherry red as the fists that he had been pounding on Frau's back grasped at his robes instead.

Frau laughed lightly, making Teito burn with embarrassment. The possibility of being seen like this was suddenly unbearable and he started kicking anew.

"Dammit, let go you stupid bishop!"

"I wouldn't keep doing that if I were you," Frau warned and when Teito ignored him, feet in a flurry against the bishop's chest, the hand on his lower back migrated to his ass, making the boy freeze in horror.

Teito could swear he felt the pads of those long fingers press into his skin even through his pants and when Frau daringly _squeezed_, the boy jumped full-body.

Raw panic took over his mind and he lunged forward so suddenly that one of his legs knocked into Frau's head and he went tumbling over the bishop's back. He rolled and bounded to his feet.

"Where are you touching, you _pervert_!" Teito shouted at the bishop and darted off before Frau could do more than gape.

Stunned from the blow to his head, it took Frau a moment for him to come to his senses. When he did he felt like knocking his head against the wall a few thousand times.

He had gone too far in his teasing and now the brat was gone. Castor was going to castrate him.

Feeling the curious stares of the servants that wandered by to see what the commotion was, Frau sighed and set off in the direction Teito had disappeared. He hoped he could find the shrimp before the doll-freak noticed Frau had lost him.

* * *

**OMAKE**

When Teito got his first lesson from Bishop Labrador it was...interesting to say the least.

"Erm, Labrador-san," Teito started hesitantly, making the bishop stop with the chalk in hand and give Teito a questioning look. "Did my father tell you to teach me_ all this_?"

Labrador said innocently, "'All this', Teito-kun?" He looked so honestly oblivious that Teito could only sputter and make a general flapping motion towards the chalkboard where Labrador had drawn some plants and their general uses. He could hear badly muffled snickers coming from behind him and silently promised Frau a good kick later.

"Ah, the plants? I am supposed to be teaching you biology, Teito-kun." The boy truly didn't know what to say.

"But—but."

"Yes, Teito-kun?" A blink of large guileless lavender eyes.

Teito deflated. "Nothing," he sighed and picked up his pencil again, and a moment later the bishop was continuing the lesson and finishing the final touches of his drawing of the next plant, which in Labrador's elegant, flowing script was labeled chamomile. By the time Labrador was done with his lecture, Teito had over ten pages of notes on how to distinguish the differences in appearance, taste and use of over two dozen tea plants.

"Don't worry," Labrador said merrily when they finished and Teito slumped over his desk, a depressive cloud hanging over him. "The next lesson will be more interesting. We'll discuss how to find wild tea plants next!"

Joy.


	4. Chapter 4

Not surprisingly, Teito didn't take getting groped well. Frau spent a good amount of time tracking the boy down after he ran off and then trying to get him outside. It was like trying to drag a cat to a bathtub but he succeeded in the end with minimal injuries. Although...

Frau looked at the spitting mad teen in front of him with wary blue eyes. Teito was forming another ring of angry red zaiphon around his hand.

Could you call this a success?

Teito leaped at him again, battle cry on his lips and sparks flying from his fingers. If Frau had the time he would have had an artist paint the image but as it was, he took a brief moment to admire the ferocity of it and then ducked. The fist Teito had aimed at his head flew over, only just brushing the spikes of his hair.

"Stay still!" Teito spat as he threw crescent wave after wave of zaiphon at him. Frau coolly dodged all of them, hands tucked in his coat pockets. He had ditched his bishop's robes before they started sparring and wore a dark blue duster that draped his long form.

As he moved, the man called out, "Can't do that. I'm supposed to be training you right now and getting knocked out as soon as we start wouldn't exactly help with your lesson."

"Shut up! Pervert! Child molester!" Teito yelled and erratic sparks of zaiphon went off around him as he continued to attack, making him look like he was on fire.

Great, Frau sighed to himself. He got a new nickname.

oooooooooooooo

Castor didn't know what Frau did to Teito between the time they left the room and arrived in the courtyard but judging by the way the boy was leaping at Frau's throat, it must have been something bad.

"What in the world did that fool do now?" he murmured in disbelief over the scene.

Two stories below, Teito dodged one of Frau's half-hearted shots and flew back at the bishop like a wildcat. One of his toes managed to catch Frau in the stomach and Castor felt a small twinge of pity as the blond stumbled with a shocked and pained expression. Teito-kun was surprisingly good at fighting for his age.

"Looks like Frau embarrassed Teito-kun somehow," Labrador observed as he moved closer to the glass as well.

Castor raised an eyebrow at his companion. "What makes you say that?"

Labrador pointed. "Look at Teito-kun's face. It's bright red."

At that, Castor shifted his glasses and squinted out the window but gave up after a moment with a huff. "How can you see anything in this sun, Labrador?"

Labrador gave a mysterious (and vaguely mocking) chuckle. "It's a special skill."

Castor made a face at him. "You know that isn't as cute as you think it is."

"Isn't it?"

"It was more effective when we were younger," Castor allowed. When they were teens, Labrador could have gotten away with murder.

"I guess we have aged some," Labrador sighed wistfully. "It still feels like only yesterday when we were taking the bishop exams together."

"Yes, much has happened since then." Castor looked on avidly at the spar below as he continued, "Frau is positive that Teito-kun is the carrier."

Labrador raised his head. "Yes. And you don't think so?"

"I don't know what to think," Castor admitted, looking frustrated. He never did like to admit when things were out of his control. "After all these years, the Eye has been quiet. Why would it have awakened now? And if this boy really is the carrier, why can't we sense the Eye on him? It makes no sense."

"But his soul, you cannot ignore the strength of his soul," Labrador pointed out, pressing his palm against the glass. Even this far away, the brightness of Teito's soul shined bright and clear.

Castor sighed. "I know. If it really is him, his soul is as beautiful as it was said to be." Castor drew a breath before he continued with difficulty. "But we…_I_ cannot stake everything on a single clue given to us ten years ago. Do not ask me to, Labrador."

"I'm not asking you to stake everything on him," Labrador answered simply.

Castor didn't look at him as he argued, "We don't know who he really is. How could he possibly be connected to Fia Kreuz? You can't even see him in your visions—"

"Castor."

He stopped in mid-breath. There was a hard look in Labrador's eyes that made Castor's blood quicken before it melted away and Labrador was looking at him with the solid, uncomplicated self-assurance Castor had always admired of him.

"I know it is worrying," Labrador started gently and shook his head when Castor tried to speak. "No, listen to me, you are worrying. But everything will be alright."

"Just that simply? Labrador."

"I won't ask you to stake everything on Teito-kun, and I won't promise that he holds the Eye of Mikhail. But I have trust in Teito-kun." Labrador turned his head back to the view where Frau had finally gotten Teito to listen to him and was leading the boy through some drills. "Have some hope, Castor. Have hope in Teito. At this point, it's all we can do."

Castor smiled in chagrin. "Four days and you already think that highly of him?"

Labrador paused for a long moment before speaking with his eyes downcast. "I gave him some murnum tea earlier. He said he didn't like it because it was too sweet." Castor's eyes widened at the implications. Murnum tea was only sweet to children with injured hearts and if it was _too _sweet….

"I see."

"That child, whether he is the carrier or not, needs us. Or the pain will consume his heart."

Castor eyed Labrador's stony face carefully. "That sounds like a prediction."

Labrador gave him a sudden smile. "Perhaps it is," he said cryptically and turned back to the glass.

Castor shook his head and went back to watching the two spar as well. "Alright then. Let us both have hope in Teito-kun," Castor said neutrally.

The weight of their trust would rest on the boy whether he knew it or not.

In companionable silence, they watched the training session continue. Below, Frau pulled out a large contraption from his coat, which only revealed itself to be a flamethrower when it started spitting out fireballs at an alarming rate. Teito screamed and started running away with the cackling Frau fast on his heels, looking like a demon with the fire bursting from his hands.

The two watching bishops sweat-dropped.

"Castor, would you…?"

"Already on my way. That bloody idiot, just wait until I get my dolls on him." Castor left the room grumbling and Labrador bemusedly sent him off.

It was surprising, Labrador thought to himself as he lowered his hand. Castor and Frau really had not changed since they were students together. Castor still worried more than the three of them put together and Frau pulled his juvenile pranks like he was still an adolescent. It was reassuring that even as part of the seven ghosts, they were for the most part unchanged.

Labrador broke out of his musings to a familiar sound. The bishop looked farther into the courtyard, where a sudden gust of wind shook some petals free from the flower beds. Even through the closed window Labrador could hear the message the petals whispered to him, bits and pieces of a whole picture he still couldn't completely piece together.

Labrador strained to hear more, fingers gripping the sides of the window frame. It would have been more effective to open the window but he didn't want Frau or Castor below to notice anything amiss.

The wind whispered brokenly to him and Labrador gritted his teeth as disconnected images flashed before his eyes. He didn't understand. What was going on? Never in his life had his visions come to him so splintered, but these days he could only catch blurred image-feeling-senses that flew weakly to him like birds that escaped from a tempest.

It was as if something was blocking them.

When the wind finally released him and the flowers stilled, Labrador leaned against the wall, let out a humorless laugh and quietly amended his earlier statement.

"Then again, we have changed a bit. Haven't we?"

ooooooooooooooo

Slowly, the bishops integrated themselves into life at the Klein manor. They tutored Teito daily and every once in a while ambled into town to give sermons at the local church to keep the Teito's father from getting suspicious. All the while though, they kept on constant alert for any sign of the Eye in Teito.

ooooooooooooooo

Of all the bishops, Frau was the one that agitated Teito the most. He didn't know what was wrong with the man!

Every morning since the day he received his new tutors, Teito would find the blond bishop eating breakfast across from his regular seat before he even arrived. He would over-salt Teito's porridge (claiming it tasted too bland), and drop pilfered sausages in his bowl like he was the bishop's personal pet.

_"Good boy, eat it all up so you grow up big and strong!" _

Teito brained him with his spoon for that one.

What was worse than though was that Frau would ambush him in his room at random times of the day.

Teito was used to being alone and with the extremely advanced lessons the bishops were giving him, he needed more time to study. To Teito's horror, in addition to the basic subjects like history, English and mathematics, his new tutors wanted him to learn Latin, religious history and for some odd reason biology. Teito tried not to do too well in the last subject because Labrador-san had mentioned that they would advance into something called chemistry if Teito did well enough, and the frantic X-signs Frau was making behind the other bishop's back gave Teito an eerie feeling about the subject.

All this extra work meant Teito needed to study more, which he could if he wasn't being interrupted so often by Frau. The blond bishop just waltzed in whenever he felt like it and it was driving Teito up the wall. He couldn't study if he was always being pulled away from his work like this! Honestly, Frau was so annoying, always coming in whenever he pleased, calling Teito boring for studying so much, grinning that stupid grin like he didn't have a care in the world, just like Mik—!

Teito looked down and realized he had snapped his pencil in half. Calmly, he threw the broken halves into the waste bin and picked up another pencil from his case.

The pencil went _scratch scratch_ over the paper.

* * *

**OMAKE**

"You crazy pervert! There's no way you could be a real bishop!"

"Just keep running, brat! You've got twenty more laps after this!"

"Frau, why don't you put the flamethrower down?"

"Doll freak? What the—hey, let go of me! Gah!"

"Oh, don't worry, Teito-kun. They're quite harmless really. My own personal creation. Aren't they cute?"

"Mffgh mmhh mmhh!"

"…."

* * *

Note: mernum tea is completely a work of my imagination. Well, the tea isn't, but the name is.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to my awesome beta **Lireach**, the once Shinigami Nanashi. You guys have no idea how many grammar mistakes she caught in the past two chapters. If you find any more, don't say anything because those are probably the ones I ignored. Lol, I can't help it, I'm stubborn.

To the people that actually like this stuff and have been waiting for updates, I apologize for taking so long.

Happy reading!

* * *

Teito Klein.

The day Ayanami first saw him, the boy was magnificent.

While the other students were pounding away at the observation windows screaming for help, the boy alone disabled the target, a hulking pile of waste, and wrapped a single ring of zaiphon around its neck forcing it to freeze in place. Even through the glass Ayanami could hear his cold whisper.

_"Surrender."_

When the attendant comm-ed in that the prisoner must be executed, the boy did not falter. A slice too fast for mortal eyes to see and then the hulk's head was bouncing off the ground. Then Teito Klein looked straight into the window at Ayanami with blood dripping off his chin and death in his eyes.

Ayanami wanted him then. He was perfection.

Until that weakling of a brother ruined him, interfering with Ayanami's plans. Teito Klein was a killing machine until his so-called brother did something that made the boy lose his taste for blood and that, Ayanami could not forgive.

Teito Klein would be his now that the interference was taken care of.

Ayanami didn't bother to look up when the door to his office opened.

"Aya-tan, Lord Klein called. Lunch tomorrow is a go," Hyuuga said as he dropped lazily into one of the chairs.

Ayanami started on another file. "Understood. Good work, Hyuuga."

Hyuuga rolled his lollipop around his mouth as he appraised the chief of staff over his dark shades. "You're actually pretty excited about tomorrow, aren't you, Aya-tan?" There was no reaction except for a slight still of his fingers over the paper that the swordsman's sharp eyes didn't miss.

"…Hyuuga, you are dismissed."

The swordsman snickered.

ooooooooooooooo

"_Running away from your problems won't solve anything."_

"_I'm not running away!"_

_Frau let the boy slash at him with his zaiphon until he finally tired himself out and then sent a fist into his stomach, making him gasp in pain. Frau caught the boy before he could collapse to the ground._

"_Sorry, kid, I didn't want to have to do that," Frau said quietly, regret tinging his face. Somehow, even as the boy was spiraling out of consciousness he managed to glare at the bishop. It was the first time Frau saw those violently green eyes up close. How could he ever have imagined this kid as an emotionless doll?_

_Then a startling redness flashed across those eyes and an inhuman voice was spitting, "You will pay for harming my master!"_

Frau had almost dropped the boy in his shock. Without a doubt that had been the Eye of Mikhail, but almost as soon as it appeared it had vanished, leaving Frau with a regular fifteen-year-old boy in his arms. Just as Frau was about to take a peek at the boy's soul to search for the Eye, the guards arrived and he lost his chance.

At his side, the scythe began to stealthily emerge from his arm. Frau gave it an exasperated glare. "And what's up with you this late at night…or morning?" he said, not realizing until then how time had passed. In another hour, the sun would begin to peek over the horizon.

The scythe made hungry sounds and extended a bit further towards the edge of the roof. Frau obligingly walked to the edge and caught the small scuttle of movement below just before it traveled into one of bedrooms on the second floor. Frau cursed when he realized which bedroom he'd seen the Kor vanish into.

Since Teito's room didn't have a balcony like the others, Frau jumped off the roof onto the balcony a floor above Teito's window, which was helpfully left open for him. Swinging from the balcony bars, he flew straight through the window almost horizontally and landed neatly on his feet.

Teito was fast asleep at his desk, perfectly oblivious to the Kor scuttling towards him like a psychotic spider.

Frau's scythe shot out across the room and sliced through the Kor like butter. The bony wings immediately disintegrated and the scythe hummed in pleasure as it absorbed the Kor's energy.

"Alright, that's enough," Frau clicked his tongue, but then the scythe suddenly extended once more. "No!" Frau grabbed his arm, attempting to will the scythe back into his body. It stopped just mere inches from touching Teito's still face.

"Get back!" Frau whispered harshly, ignoring the sweat beading his forehead. "Get back, you bastard! Get back!"

The scythe hesitated, before it reluctantly withdrew from the sleeping boy. It pulled back across the room and Frau didn't relax until it finally submerged itself back into his arm again. Frau steadied himself against the window frame and looked back at Teito who was still sleeping like the dead, face half-buried behind his arm and glowing in the lamp light.

"What are you, kid? To make that bastard's scythe lose control like this?"

Frau moved towards the desk and duly noted the workbooks and the dull pencil clasped in the boy's loose fist. He switched off the lamp and carefully picked Teito up, one arm behind his back and another behind his knees. The boy must have been exhausted because he didn't even stir.

By the time Teito was safely under covers and Frau was nudging the window closed from the balcony with the tip of his foot, the sky was a deep royal blue, stained light purple at the edges.

Sunrise was closer than he expected.

oooooooooooooooo

In his dreams, Teito saw wheat blond hair, boyish and growing out of its local style cut. He saw laughing eyes and a gentle smile and Teito wanted it all so badly that he couldn't help reaching out with his hand.

Mikage. Come back, Mikage!

Mikage!

"Oi, kid, what are you doing?"

Teito's eyes blinked open. He saw golden hair cut rakishly above slanted deep blue eyes. It's Frau, he thought vaguely and then his eyes lowered and finally noticed his hand flat over Frau's face, fingers over nose, palm to mouth.

Teito turned red as he realized he could feel moist heat against the palm of his hand.

"Pervert!"

Frau "oof-ed" as he was thrown back with an improvised roundhouse kick to the face. Teito's bare foot made a satisfying _thwack_ as it connected with Frau's cheek.

"Brat…," Frau growled as he got back up, his cheek throbbing. "Ever since that one grope, you've been calling me pervert and beating me black and blue. Didn't it occur to you when you saw me that you were the one touching me strangely this time?"

Teito blushed again. "W-well, what were you doing bending over me for?" Teito said defensively and then with an annoyed tick in his forehead demanded, "And what are doing in my room! Get out!"

"I was going to wake you up before your breakfast got cold, but now I'm starting to regret being so considerate," Frau sniffed as he brushed off his white robes.

Teito blinked. "You came to wake me up for breakfast?" Teito looked down, not sure what to say. No one ever did that for him, no one except….

Frau didn't miss the slight clench of Teito's fingers on the bedspread. He narrowed his eyes at that before sighing loudly and forcefully messing up the boy's already chaotic bedhead.

"You better hurry up or I'm going to eat your nasty plain porridge, _brat_." Frau cackled and darted out the room before the pillow Teito threw at him could make contact. The pillow was goose feather so it made a resounding _thud_ against the door.

"Don't call me that!" Teito shouted after him.

ooooooooooooooo

Teito had stayed up late the night before because he needed to study. At least, that's what he told himself. Really though, he hadn't wanted to sleep. Every night he had the same dreams and the same nightmares. Teito felt like sleep was becoming his enemy.

The boy stared down at the porridge in his bowl, not even pretending to eat.

"Just because you stare at it like that, doesn't mean it's going to change into something different," Frau drawled.

"Shut up," Teito retorted without any real heat. He had something worse than a nightmare last night. Nightmares at least made him grateful he was awake. Last night had been a dream so sweet he wished he would never wake up, and when he did Teito felt like crying because the dream wasn't real. It was never real.

Teito finally gave up and pushed the porridge away.

"Hey, aren't you going to eat?" Frau said.

"I'm not hungry," Teito replied tonelessly. He stopped before the door and said without turning, "Thank you for waking me up." Without bothering to wait for a response he left the room.

Frau did nothing to stop him.

That day the sky was clear but Teito felt like it should be raining. When he saw the maid standing outside his room with a bundle in her arms and an apologetic look, he knew the day just got much worse.

Teito took the package without a word as the maid quietly explained that he was expected in town for a luncheon with Lord Ayanami.

"May I wash and dress you, young master?"

"I can do it myself," Teito said coldly, and at the maid's flinch he quietly added, "Thank you."

The maid glanced up at him briefly before saying the customary, "I live to serve my lord and master."

'As do I,' Teito thought as he sent the maid off. He didn't notice how she turned her head to look at him just before she turned the corner.

He opened the package once he was alone within his room, the thick brown paper ripping easily. Inside he found formal clothes of a rich dark fabric. Looked like he was to dine in a high class restaurant again. At least his father remembered to make them black. No matter how much he hated Teito, he had loved his other son.

Teito walked over to the mirror on the opposite wall of the bed and stared at his own image, covered head to toe in simple cotton, pitch black for mourning. Teito grabbed at the collar of his black shirt and yanked it in frustration. He missed his brother so much.

He had been the only one to truly love Teito in this world and he was the only one Teito loved. He couldn't help the tears that snaked out from under his eyelids and made twin lines over his cheeks.

_Mikage. Come back, please._

_I miss you so much._

ooooooooooooooo

When Frau broke the news of the previous night's happenings to his two companions, he sort of expected the kind of response he would receive but still.

"Isn't this kind of harsh?" Frau sputtered through the chokehold one of Castor's freakishly strong dolls had on him. As if on command, the doll tightened its hold and Frau began turning purple.

"You should have come to us immediately. Or at least informed us as soon as we had awakened," Labrador said, an unpitying smile on his face as he nonchalantly served Castor and himself some more black tea.

Castor took a sip, ignoring Frau even as his fingers directed the demonic doll's movements. "Instead you chose to inform us now when it is almost afternoon, which in my opinion is much too late. Would you agree, Labrador-san?"

"Very."

"Nngh!" went Frau.

"You really had no excuse, Frau. I wake up at dawn tend to the flowers. You could have said something."

When Frau's face began to turn a dangerous dark violet, the two bishops decided to take pity on him. "You…need a new habit...doll freak," Frau gasped as he wilted to the ground.

"It's all you deserve," Castor said, eyes glinting behind his glasses, "This new information could be important. You really should have told us as soon as possible."

"Indeed, if this Kor had managed to sneak onto the premises even after we cleansed the area, then this might prove Teito-kun is the holder," Labrador concluded. He and Castor exchanged glances.

"It was a low level Kor though. It shouldn't have been able to get so near to him."

Frau frowned. "Labrador, did you see anything?"

The other bishop shook his head. "No, nothing conclusive. But the flowers felt uneasy this morning," he offered quietly.

"That means something could happen today." Castor pushed his slipping glasses farther up the bridge of his nose. "Frau, I suggest you follow Teito today and make sure he doesn't fall into any danger."

Frau agreed and said, "What about you two?"

Castor looked annoyed. "Well, since you neglected to tell us anything about our mysterious Kor attack, Labrador and I already accepted the Lord Klein's invitation to investigate some complications at his business."

"Complications?"

"Apparently many of his workers have been attacked," Labrador relayed grimly.

Frau narrowed his eyes. "Kor?"

"Perhaps. We don't know, which is why we're going to investigate it," Castor said as he looked into the dregs of his tea and then pointed a stern look at Frau. "Don't worry about that and watch over Teito-kun. I have a bad feeling about this trip into town. Who knows what will happen once he is out of the circle of these protected grounds?"

Frau looked blank. "Trip? Town?"

"…You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Oh, dear," Castor sighed as Labrador started chuckling.

* * *

AN: To all Ayanami fans, I sincerely apologize for his OOC-ness. I'm seriously so sorry about that. As a fan of Ayanami myself, it killed me to have to make him seem so...blood-lusty, when he's really not. But I had to do it! Seriously, if Ayanami knew about the Eye already, which he doesn't yet, then he wouldn't go through the uselessness of an engagement. He would go in guns blazing and just _take_ Teito. So it had to be fascination to attract his attention. So, so sorry. I'll try to get him back in character as the story develops.

So, at this point, I'm all revved up to write the sixth chapter. If anyone was waiting for the action, it should be coming next. It's just...I have no idea what to write. Seriously, I created a buildup and drove myself into a corner. If anyone has any ideas, don't hesitate to tell me through a review or PM! Then again, I might think of something by tonight and all the worrying will be for nothing. O.O


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to the ever lovely **Lireach** for the grammar fix-ups, and another great thanks to **Ani** for taking the time to read this section over and keep me from freaking out. You guys rock!

.

.

Frau wondered what Castor and Labrador would do if they found out that Frau had glimpsed the Eye of Mikhail the day he stopped Teito from running away. Perhaps they would attempt to drown him? It would be something drastic, he was sure.

Frau himself didn't know exactly why he didn't tell them right away. Maybe it was because at the moment the Eye revealed itself, Frau sensed something else in the boy's body, something so huge and dark underneath the surface of his soul that Frau knew he was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. The hairs on the back of his neck had stiffened as his instincts screamed.

Whatever it was it wasn't the Eye, but it was trouble.

oo00oo

The first time Teito met Ayanami was after one of the more strenuous "pop quizzes" they had in the academy. He was hot and tired and sticky, and the last thing he wanted to do was make small talk with someone when the blood in his hair was quickly congealing into a makeshift hair gel. What he wanted to do was drop into bed and curl up under the covers where no one would see him, hear him or most importantly, bother him.

Like Ayanami was doing at the time.

The man spoke emotionlessly but his eyes roved over Teito like he was trying to commit him to memory. He congratulated Teito for his passing the "quiz" and what confused Teito was that he actually sounded sincere.

Ayanami's gaze was as penetrating as the winter chill. It was like the man could see all his secrets. Teito stared back with the best defense he had at the time—sheer fatigue, of the body and mind. He had killed so many times the act no longer had any meaning for him. It was just tiring. Very, very tiring.

The rest of the meeting passed in a blur and thus, so did Ayanami.

When Teito walked into his quarters the first thing he did was go straight to the showers, which were empty because it was the middle of the afternoon. As far as Teito knew, none of the other boys would need to take an impromptu shower since they hadn't dared to get close enough to the target to catch a speck of the blood that spilled.

Teito looked at his hands. They were sticky and still damp, kept warm by his heat of his skin. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that he spilled something else on his hands, like juice or sauce.

Teito walked under the shower's spray, still staring at his hands, until the water washed off the stickiness, all the way down to the dried brown blood underneath. He stayed until the water ran cold and his fingers began to wrinkle.

Teito didn't realize that the entire time he had been standing under the water he was still fully dressed.

Ayanami didn't make it back into Teito's thoughts until much later, almost two years later when he found out the man had gone to his father with an engagement proposal. He nearly fell over from the shock. Of all the people in the world why had Ayanami chosen him? _The_ Ayanami? The cold-as-ice Black Hawks leader that the other boys whispered about in the halls with awe in their voices, fear in their eyes.

Teito still thought that now when Ayanami looked at him like he was something he wanted to tie up and place on his mantle. Why him?

Why_ him_?

Why—?

A cool touch of fingers swept across Teito's cheek and he recoiled. "Don't touch me," he snapped, immediately irritated for dropping his guard. At least he didn't slap the hand away, which would have been much more telling.

Ayanami gave him a tiny, superior upturn of the lips, which Teito had long determined as Ayanami's version of a smirk. "There was something on your face," he said coolly, but the fingers lingered over his skin for another few moments like Ayanami was taunting him.

Teito looked down at his plate, wishing the table was longer. This wasn't the first time Ayanami had touched him but he still couldn't get used to it. It was like having a shark brush up against him and who knew when the shark was hungry?

Teito's hold on his fork tightened slightly because Ayanami was still watching him, his gaze unrelenting and constant on his face. Teito didn't want to be eaten by the shark but he really couldn't find a way not to be.

"It has been a while since I have last seen you," Ayanami remarked as he finally stopped staring long enough to sip at some tea. "You look well." What did that mean?

Teito dropped a curt "Thank you," and stuffed a forkful of salad in his mouth so that he wouldn't have to say anything else.

Ayanami was well-respected, fairly good-looking (Teito took a quick peek under his lashes at the man's still, porcelain features), and judging by the sword he always wore and the cool self-assurance of his stride he knew how to fight. If Teito was any other person he might have been won over by these attributes and ignored the fact that Ayanami had a black reputation for cruelty and a soul of stone.

Teito remembered chains though. He remembered the world when it was painted red and when people fell under his sword like flies. That was the real reason Teito couldn't stand being near Ayanami and why his mere presence sent a chill up Teito's spine.

Ayanami reminded him of death.

Teito always wondered how the apathetic man would react if he found out Teito had been a battle sklave before he entered the military academy, or that his own father had been the one to put him in the service because he had hated Teito that much. Surely he would be angry for getting an ex-sklave instead of a noble from a distinguished family. Would his face contort in disgust? Would he pull out that deadly sword from his side and do Teito the honor of erasing him from this earth?

Teito wondered. How would Frau react?

Ice dropped into his stomach at the thought, numbing him from the inside out. Frau could never find out. No one could. Only Teito and his father knew the truth. Mikage hadn't known since Teito had never found the courage to tell him. How could he?

How could anyone tell their best friend that they were a murderer?

Teito set down his utensils, giving up on the pretense of eating. He had pushed the food around on his plate enough that it didn't look anything like the elegant ensemble it had arrived as.

Ayanami raised an eyebrow as Teito stood from his seat and gave him a short bow. "Thank you for the meal. I apologize, but I think it's best that I leave now," Teito said flatly.

"I see," said Ayanami as he calmly wiped his mouth with his napkin.

"Then goodbye, Lord Ayanami." Teito barely took one step forward when Ayanami spoke again.

"Teito Klein, when was the last time you killed?"

Teito stumbled, completely caught off guard for the first time that night. "W-What?" Ayanami paused briefly to sip his tea, though his eyes watched Teito over the rim with dark amusement. "What does that mean?" Teito demanded shakily.

"When was the last time you felt blood cooling on your hands?" Ayanami rephrased the question as if it would help. "When was the last time you cut out a person's soul from their human shell?" Teito stepped back instinctively when Ayanami stood up and moved towards him.

"What are you talking about?! What do you know!"

Before Teito knew it, Ayanami was looming over him. He was tall, much taller than Teito and for once he noticed that Ayanami's dark eyes were actually a deep, sinister violet like the stuff of nightmares.

Ayanami reached out with his hand and Teito flinched heavily this time when his cold fingers met his cheek. "I know you have wrought destruction with those hands. You are a killer, Teito Klein. I knew it from the moment I first saw you." Teito realized then that he was starting to tremble just the slightest.

"What are you talking about? D-Don't…."

Ayanami caressed him like he was something precious. "How beautiful. Do you know how beautiful you are, Teito Klein? Especially when this skin is covered in blood and you look up with murder in your eyes." Ayanami's breath brushed over his trembling lips, his open mouth.

"It's breathtaking," Ayanami whispered and he moved forward the last couple inches.

NO! TEITO, _MOVE_!

All of a sudden, something inside Teito_ jerked_ and the boy stumbled back and collapsed, his legs shaking weakly and unable to support him. Teito gaped up at Ayanami from the floor, hand pressed over his mouth, eyes were wide with horror.

Ayanami stared dispassionately down at him before picking up his uniform hat and coat. "You are like myself, Teito Klein. You are meant for greater things. I had hoped that once that nuisance had been taken care of that you might return to your senses, but it seems that you still haven't learned yet. I will wait for you to remember who you really are." Ayanami paused at the door with his back to him and warned,"Do not waste my time."

Teito realized then, when the door shut with a dull _click, _that Ayanami had known that Teito used to be a battle sklave; that he had killed before; that he had death in his soul. It was written in his face. And far from being disgusted of Teito, the man was impossibly _excited_.

oo00oo

**OMAKE:**

Frau peered up at the buildings around them. He glanced at the people bustling by them. He observed the fine stores lined up and down the streets, the carriages carting their rich past these stores, the sheer mess of the farmers' market farther down the road, and finally looked to the restaurant Teito had disappeared into with his stone-faced companion.

He stared at the restaurant doors determinedly, increasingly aware of the avid gaze practically slapping the side of his face in its transparency and hoping to god that Teito would finish eating already.

Ten minutes passed. Frau raised his eyes to the buildings again. The gaze squatting on the side of his face didn't move.

Another ten minutes passed. Frau pretended to be interested in the crowd of townspeople around them, ignoring the sweat inching down his back. The gaze didn't move. There was a smack of lips.

Ten more minutes passed. Frau was starting to sweat rapidly. One of the children in the group he'd been staring at, pointed at him and shrilly declared him a pervert. There was another smack of lips and a soft sound of a snicker.

Finally, Frau broke.

He whirled around and exploded, "I said I don't want any of your GODDAMN candy, so STOP fucking _staring_!"

The other man pushed up his dark shades and pulled out the candy apple he'd been rolling around in his mouth. "But it's so GOOD! Come on, Lord Bishop, you have to try at least a taste."

Frau stared in disbelief at the offered candy which was dripping with the man's saliva, then up at the man, who looked at him expectantly over the top of his shades.

What kind of person was Lord Ayanami if this man was his second-in-command?

…Frau honestly didn't want to know.

.

.

This chapter gave me so much crap. I'm disappointed, because even after all the help I got from my beta-readers, it still feels awkward to me.

I hope the next one is better.


	7. Chapter 7

There was just something about Ayanami that didn't feel right. Like Teito, he seemed to hold something hidden deep in the waters of his soul, and the eeriness of whatever he was hiding hung around the man in a cloying cloud. The best way to sum it up was that Ayanami's mere existence felt _wrong_. Labrador and Castor could sense it too.

He was no ordinary human, that was for sure.

The slight but definite smirk on the pale man's face as he passed by Frau had the bishop immediately running into the restaurant for Teito, who hadn't come out with Ayanami.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but as I have informed you already, the privacy of our customers is held the highest priority above all else. You will just have to wait in the lobby and one of our servers can…"

"No, I don't think you understand. When I said to show me the room Teito Klein is in, it wasn't a request." Frau bent into the desk man's personal space, using the advantage of his height to loom sinisterly over him, face shadowed under his hanging bangs. "It was an order. For the last time, _tell me where Teito Klein is_."

Maybe he exuded too much of his killing aura but it got the job done and when Frau left the front desk he was holding a small room key.

"Sir, wait! Please allow me to help you!" Frau raised an eyebrow as he stopped and let the employee catch up to him. A long wheat blond braid swung around as he skidded to a stop in front of Frau.

"You'll get lost if you don't know the layout of this restaurant," the young employee explained.

Frau tsked and said, "The guy at the front told me the room number was 15."

"Yes, but this restaurant was built for privacy." The boy swiped the key from Frau's hand before he could react. "See, the scorpion on this key? The room you are looking for is scorpion 15, and since it is facing _west_, we need to go to the _east_ wing. Follow me, please."

Frau dumbly trailed after the young employee as he strode off in the opposite direction Frau had been heading.

"This restaurant is unnecessarily complicated," Frau grumbled and he didn't hear the employee mutter to himself under his breath.

"As are nobles."

When they got to the room in question, the boy stepped to the side and handed over the key. Sure enough, the small scorpion symbol engraved on the key matched the engraving on the doorknob.

"Not bad, kid. Thanks," Frau said appreciatively and the boy returned an incongruent combination of a smug look and a proper bow. Frau smirked back before he opened the door.

Inside was a small but elegantly furnished dining room, a table fit for two in the center. Frau only noticed the small figure collapsed beside it.

"Teito!"

The boy looked up and blinked as he rushed into the room. "Frau?" He looked like he'd just woken up from a dream. Frau quickly checked him over but he seemed unharmed, if a bit paler than usual but that could have been the lighting.

Letting out a breath through his nose, Frau closed his eyes briefly before he reached out and slapped Teito upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for!" The boy looked more startled than hurt as he held the back of the head and leaned away from Frau.

"That was for freaking me out while you were daydreaming away in here," Frau said unrepentantly. "Now, get up so we can go. This place gives me the creeps. It's not a restaurant, it's a fortress." The helpful employee had vanished, leaving the two to find their own way out, which was just fine by Frau.

Without waiting for Teito to do more than protest, "But you didn't have to hit me!" Frau grabbed the boy and dragged him out of the restaurant.

"So, what happened?" Frau asked finally as they were crossing the lobby.

Teito widened his eyes briefly before he looked away and said morosely, "Nothing."

Trying to pry information out of this brat was like trying to pull teeth, Frau thought as an annoyed tick popped up in his forehead.

"Of course it is," Frau said in an exhale. If he heard the discontent in Frau's tone, Teito made no notice except to walk a smidge faster. He cleared the front doors first and then stopped in his tracks when he realized what he was looking for wasn't there.

"Frau…," Teito said as he glanced up and down the street fruitlessly.

Frau dug his finger in his ear as he waited for it. "Yeah?"

"That's not our carriage," Teito said obviously as he pointed at the spot where the carriage and its handlers had been.

"Yeah."

Teito's eye twitched. "Where's the carriage?"

"I sent it away."

Small pause. "_Why_?"

"The damn coachman was giving me the evil eye. I got sick of it, so I told him to take it back to the manor and we'd catch up," Frau explained unabashedly.

Teito was starting to send Frau the same evil eye the said coachman had been giving him.

"And how exactly are we going to catch up?"

"What do you think?" Frau motioned with a nod of his head at the vehicle he had used to follow behind Teito's carriage to the town.

"The Hawkzile?" Teito barely avoided being hit when his hands reflexively shot out to catch the helmet lobbed at him. Before he could sigh in relief, a pair of goggles caught him in the face.

"Gah!"

"Can't have the little lord getting into any accidents, now can we? Get on," Frau said as he swung a leg over the Hawkzile, eyes dancing behind his own goggles.

"You could have warned me!"

"Just get on."

Teito had never ridden on a Hawkzile before but there was plenty of room on the great bike, so he settled in behind Frau without a word. With the way the seat was curved though, Teito fell closer to Frau then he expected and he had to make an effort to stay at the edge of the seat so he wouldn't lean against the bishop's back.

Frau said suddenly, "You do realize you're going to fall off unless you hold on properly?"

"Huh?"

Frau made a little noise of exasperation. "Here." He grabbed Teito's hands and pulled them forward so Teito fell against his back with a yelp.

"Agh, Frau!" the boy protested, face warming.

Frau ignored him and wrapped the boy's hands over his stomach, so Teito's arms were completely around his waist.

"There, now hold on tight," Frau said as he revved the Hawkzile to a start. His ears picked up a small gasp under the sound of the engine and then the arms around him tightened briefly. A small smile spread over the bishop's lips as he sped the Hawkzile up and out of the street.

Unnoticed, a pair of curious violet eyes followed them before its owner disappeared, melting seamlessly into the crowd.

Teito's small country town was nowhere near as large or diverse as the big cities Frau was used to. So it wasn't odd that Teito hadn't had the chance to ride a Hawkzile yet, which was more common to urban settings.

"Tch, the buildings here are so damn low, there's no wind cover at all," Frau groused. Teito didn't see the problem but maybe that was because he had a good wall behind Frau's broad back.

Teito bent his head back as far as he could without letting go of Frau. The sky was still a clear, cloudless blue that day. High above the bustle of the town, Teito felt like he could fly away from all his problems and the sky was an inviting blue ocean that promised just this.

Teito felt free. He forgot the thoughts of Ayanami and his confusing words, the past and its pain. He lost himself in the wind, the roughness of Frau's coat under his fingers and the all-encompassing blue.

Frau knew instinctively that this was Teito's first ride on a Hawkzile. He could tell by the way the boy's hands unconsciously loosened around his waist and the head-in-the-clouds look on his face when Frau glanced back with the corners of his eyes. A strange pride infused him for being the first one to give Teito this experience.

Which made it all the more disappointing when the Hawkzile suddenly began to slow down in midair. The engine must have run out of power and with nothing to propel the bike, the hawk-dragon flagged under the combined weight of the machinery and its two passengers. The bike started to descend, rapidly.

"Frau?" Teito cried.

"Hang on, kid!" Frau yelled as he tried to steady their descent.

The hawk-dragon squawked and flapped its wings frantically as it tried to regain itself but they were too heavy. If he didn't do something fast they were all in trouble.

Frau wrapped an arm around Teito and stood up on the seat of the bike. It tilted forward as it fell, and Frau struggled to balance on the bike until they were about twenty meters from the ground.

Then he jumped.

Teito screamed at him as they fell from a height of about six stories. "Frau, you crazy pervert-bishop! If we die I'll come back and haunt you!"

"Tch, I know what I'm doing, damn brat!" Frau said as he concentrated. They were lucky to have made it out of the town and reached the edge of the forest before the engine gave out. He landed hard with a _crack_ on the uppermost branch of a tall tree and he quickly bounced off it to another tree as it fell away under his feet.

"Didn't I—hah—tell you?" Frau said as he tried to catch his breath. Beside him, Teito was clutching at the tree trunk like a lifeline and looking towards the ground with bulging eyes.

"_That you're crazy_?"

Frau gave him a smirk that was somehow only enhanced by his bedraggled appearance. "I was born to fly," Frau said smugly as he blew a sweat-soaked strand out of his eyes.

Teito rolled his eyes but secretly he thought Frau was a bit more heroic than he let on, even if he was too rough around the edges to be a conventional hero. Frau looked like an outlaw really, and it was with that thought in mind that Teito told Frau seriously,

"You must have been a pirate in your past life."

To Teito's surprise, the bishop abruptly choked on air.

.

.

When they found the Hawkzile, it was beyond the edge of the forest near the roadside. The hawk-dragon was able to make a safe landing without their weight hindering it and was unharmed but made irritated sounds at Frau as he fiddled around the bike's engine.

"Is it broken?" Teito peered over Frau's shoulder.

"Actually, it looks like we ran out of gas." Frau looked sheepish.

Teito narrowed his eyes at the bishop. "You didn't make sure you had enough fuel before going to town?"

"Ehh."

"Stupid pervert bishop!" Teito yelled.

The Hawkzile squawked in agreement.

"Et tu?" Frau said with a forsaken look at the Hawkzile.

Teito sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead. "The manor's twenty miles away!" he lamented.

"Che, looks like we're going to have to walk it," Frau said as he stood up and brushed off dirt from kneeling on the ground. "C'mon, kid. We've got a long way to go."

Teito sighed again and trotted after the blond but stopped in his tracks when he realized what direction they were going.

"Frau, wait," he grabbed the back of the bishop's duster to make him stop.

"What?"

"You're going the wrong way." Teito pointed west, away from the line of trees Frau had set off for. "The manor's this way."

"No, actually the manor is this way. It'll cut off two-thirds of the time if we just go straight through the forest instead of going all the way around."

"Wait a second, Frau! We can't go through the forest! It's dangerous, everyone knows that."

"Oh?" Instead of looking frightened, Frau just looked intrigued. "No one ever told me that. What do you mean dangerous?"

Teito scuffed his shoes against the ground. "It's just…I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. People just disappear in there and they never come back. I hear the servants gossiping about it all the time and a few people have even gone to my father about it." He threw a wary look at the trees, as if he expected the lost people to suddenly pop out of them.

"Hmm. The people here have never tried searching for them?"

"Of course they have! But everyone that goes in after them usually gets lost as well. It's not everyone that disappears but enough that people don't go in there anymore," Teito explained.

Frau ran a hand through his blond spikes as he thought about it. "But I don't get it. On the way to town, you passed through the forest. If it's as dangerous as you say…."

"That was just the outskirts though, and it was necessary to get out. It's what makes the manor so well-protected. It's really close to the forest and even partly surrounded by it."

"Heeh, must have been hell building the manor there." He cast a contemplative gaze on the forest, which looked dark and shadowy even in the sunny day. Beyond the first line of trees, one could see nothing but darkness.

"No one ever found out what was causing the people to disappear?" Frau asked.

Teito shook his head. "No."

He eyed the bishop carefully, who was slowly narrowing his eyes and absentmindedly rubbing at his right arm as if it were in pain.

"Frau?"

Frau blinked. "Ah, whatever. Let's get going and hopefully we'll get back before they start serving supper," Frau said and he not-so-gently pushed Teito up ahead of him so that the boy stumbled a bit.

The boy loudly protested this action, and Frau vaguely said something that he didn't remember once it left his mouth.

He glanced back at the dark line of trees and carefully gripped his right arm.

There was something in that forest alright, something bad. Frau could tell because of the abrupt pangs of hunger that came from his right arm.

The bastard's scythe was suddenly ravenous.

.

.

AN: I wasn't planning on continuing this story but I found this chapter from October 28, 2010 lying in my files. I think I wrote it and didn't upload it earlier because I had been planning another chapter until my vicious bout of writer's block hit me. I thought I might as well upload this chapter now since I don't know when I'll continue updating this story. Unfortunately this fic and my other chaptered fic are still on indeterminate hiatuses. =(


	8. Chapter 8

Castor and Labrador soon joined Frau in accompanying Teito during his meals and for the first time since he left the academy, Teito was eating at a full table.

"You gonna eat that?" Frau asked, jerking Teito out of his morning stupor. He looked down at the biscuit Frau indicated and pushed his plate forward with a shake of his head. He was having enough trouble finishing his porridge with his lack of appetite. It was lumpy and plain as always.

"Here you go, Teito. Maybe this will make the porridge a little more edible," Labrador said as he took the liberty to swipe Teito's bowl and threw in a pinch of this and that and a small pour of hot milk. The bowl was back in Teito's hands a second later, and he looked down at it with a dumbfounded look.

"Go on, try it," Labrador encouraged.

"This porridge is awfully bland by itself," Castor said, and he and Frau surreptitiously pushed their bowls toward Labrador to spice up as well.

The look Labrador gave them said quite clearly, _"I am not your mother,"_ and they took their bowls back promptly.

"Well?"

Teito's first reaction after a taste was of surprise, then that of growing delight. "It's good!" he exclaimed, as he began to eat more with gusto. His simple happiness was enough to have the bishops send each other pleased looks, if a touch concerned.

Labrador's recipe had been simply: porridge, salt, brown sugar and milk.

"You're getting rather attached to the brat," Frau remarked on the way back to their rooms.

Labrador slid him a look that had him bristling in defense. "Aren't you as well?" he said.

"No, of course not," Frau said gruffly, "I'm keeping it professional as we should. Since we're here just to grab _that_ and go."

"Hmm," Labrador said with a carefully neutral look.

The Eye of Mikhail was a pressing concern they all kept constantly at the back of their minds. Their spirits were impatient to retrieve it.

"Teito makes it easy to care though," Labrador said, something that Frau thought as well but wouldn't dare voice aloud.

"Eh, where's Castor?" The two of them turned around to the empty corridor behind them.

"...Didn't he leave with us?"

"Sorry, sorry," Castor said as he rushed towards them. "I was just telling Teito about how long porridge has been eaten, where and so on. It was a very interesting conversation, about the history of porridge that is."

Labrador and Frau passed exasperated looks. Speaking of getting attached.

"So, what is the plan?" Castor said, bringing them back to the business at hand as they entered the sanctity of their rooms.

"Well, Frau's presence around Teito yesterday was enough to deter any Kor attacks," recalled Labrador.

"Yeah, it was a good thing seeing as there was practically a whole army of Kor hiding in the forest around the manor," Frau said, rubbing at his arm at the memory of how hungry the scythe had been when it realized how many Kor were lying in wait for Teito. Labrador and Castor got the report from him last night and they had determined that the manor and the pathways around had already been sealed off from the Kor by someone powerful. Who though, they didn't know yet.

"But you guys definitely found evidence of increasing Kor activity around the area?" said Frau, referring to their investigation of the Lord Klein's factories nearby.

"Yes, attacks on the workers and townspeople have escalated in the last year. There were as much as five in the past two weeks alone, four of which were in the manor's surrounding area."

"Then…."

"It seems that we can agree that Teito is most likely the cause of the increasing Kor attacks," Castor summed up, hiding his expression behind his glinting glasses. Even he had to admit all the evidence seemed to point towards Teito as the cause.

"Meaning, he has the Eye of Mikhail," said Frau. "But then why is it acting up now? Teito is already almost sixteen. You would think that he'd have been eaten up by Kor by now."

"Frau," Labrador admonished and Castor hissed at his lack of tact.

"What, it's true," Frau said, raising his hands defensively. "Any ideas?"

Castor wondered, "It must be something in Teito's life that happened recently. If he came back from the Academy a year ago, it might have happened there."

"He has so much sadness for one so young," Labrador said, remembering how Teito had told him he didn't like his tea because it was too sweet.

"I'd be sad too if I were being treated the way he is," Frau said with a scoff. The only time he had seen Lord Klein acknowledge his son was on the night his engagement to Ayanami had been revealed. "Speaking of which, watch out for that Ayanami character," Frau said, although it was a superfluous warning. He had already told them of the state Ayanami had left Teito in after the luncheon and all three of the bishops felt something off about the officer.

"Noted," said Castor while Labrador nodded.

"Do you think he is…?" None of them wanted to say his name aloud but they all had an inkling that Ayanami was _that person._

"Maybe."

"We'll see, won't we?"

.

.

"So, how did your luncheon with Lord Ayanami go yesterday?" Castor asked, making Teito look up from his lesson work in surprise and the other two bishops jaw-drop in his direction. The manic gestures Frau was giving him said, _"We agreed not to talk about that!"_

_"When?"_ Castor's eyebrow said.

_"It was implied, you ass!"_ Frau's stormy glare said.

Teito shrugged and said it was fine, which was Not True At All but narrowed his eyes at Frau to keep him silent.

Ayanami had basically said that he knew Teito had been a battle sklave, liked it and still wanted to marry him anyways.

_"Why is this my life?"_ Teito thought.

He was having a very existential crisis these days, but if anything it distracted Teito from the depression he had sunk into in the wake of Mikage's death.

There. He could actually think his brother's name now without breaking a pencil.

Mikage. Mikage, Mikage, Mikage.

"Teito, please give me the resulting solution for this equation," Labrador said, not unkindly as he indicated the scribbles on the blackboard. Teito focused then on the chemical formula, and from the sympathetic look the bishop gave him he was sure that he had been distracted on purpose.

They seemed to notice whenever Teito fell into a mood, which was surprising because he was so used to being ignored. Just another thing that was off about these bishops.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Anyone else sick of all the Mikage-moping and excess fluff?

Let's shake things up.

.

.

To Teito's dismay, after the luncheon with Ayanami the man started sending gifts to the house. Baskets of flowers, chocolate and other useless things started to crowd his room and because he couldn't stand looking at them anymore Teito started spending his time outside, usually in the garden.

Outside their lessons, Bishop Labrador was most often caring for the garden that grew behind the house. Apparently they weren't taking proper care of their flowers, not that Teito knew about it. He hadn't taken a good look at the garden until now and it was only thanks to Labrador's lessons that he knew what was in it.

"Teito," Labrador called, holding up a small purple flower.

"Aster," Teito told him.

"And these?"

"Geraniums."

Labrador was definitely the safest of the three bishops to spend time with, because Castor often took it as his responsibility to jam as much knowledge into Teito's head in and out of lessons, and Teito was still wary around Frau who quite honestly confused the boy to bits.

The worst Labrador did was feed him too-sweet tea and those odd colorful crackers which the bishop said were dried flowers, but Teito figured he was joking because how on earth could flowers be edible?

Teito usually got suckered into helping Labrador around the garden with the bishop quizzing him on every other plant. He was weeding the farther edge of the garden which ran straight into the gate separating the manor grounds from the forest beyond when he noticed a stick poking through the gate and lying across a patch of flowers. He reached down to pick it up and throw it away when he felt a jolt of unease go through him. Before he could figure out what was wrong, the "stick" twitched and _jumped at him._

On reflex Teito jerked away and a line of fire cut across his cheek, narrowly missing his eye. The "stick" was connected to a jumble of other sticks that Teito had somehow missed in the underbrush and their paleness made them look eerily like bones. Teito's eyes went wide as he realized what he was dealing with.

Kor.

Teito stumbled back on shaky legs. The Kor was attempting to lunge at him but couldn't get its full form beyond the gate.

"Teito, you're bleeding," Labrador said suddenly, making Teito flinch.

Hurriedly he wiped at the blood on his cheek and shot the bishop a reassuring look. "It's just a scratch. It doesn't hurt." Labrador still looked concerned though and Teito was at a loss at how to reassure him.

"Kor," Labrador murmured, and then with a suddenly hard expression he got to work banishing it.

Blue zaiphon lit up the area as the Kor disintegrated and Teito found himself fixed on Labrador's glowing hands. They were manipulating pure blue zaiphon, the kind that he had seen Frau use before to spar with him.

"Why is your zaiphon blue?" he asked when Labrador finished banishing the Kor.

"Hmm?" The pale-haired bishop glanced at him in bemusement. "Ahh, yours is red, isn't it?" he said as comprehension cleared his face. "Zaiphon reflects the nature of the person using it. It's colored by intent, so when you use it to attack someone with negative intent it will show up red."

"And if you attack someone with positive intent it'll show up blue?" Teito was sure the skepticism was written on his face and Labrador smiled in response.

"In a way that's right. Using the power with the intent to harm can taint zaiphon. Your zaiphon will come up blue if your motivation to use it comes from deeper inside you." What that meant Teito didn't understand but impulsively he asked Labrador if a person could be taught to wield blue zaiphon.

His question caught the bishop off guard. "Why do you want to use blue zaiphon?" Labrador asked curiously.

Teito shrugged and glanced away. "I just wanted to try it. I've seen people use blue zaiphon before and I always wondered why." One particular person he knew had used blue zaiphon stuck out in his mind. That person had sent messages of "cheer up", "smile more" and once, an annoying "shorty" his way in glowing blue, which was so different from the violent red of Teito's zaiphon.

Labrador said gently, "The power fueling zaiphon has to come from somewhere else besides hate, anger or violence. What motivates you to fight, Teito? I think that is the question you need to answer first before all else."

Teito thought about Labrador's words later that night when he was back in his room.

"What motivates me?" Teito muttered as he stared up at the ceiling from his bed.

He thought to himself, _I don't know._

.

The next day, Frau sparred with Teito.

As usual, Teito's attacks didn't connect and Frau actually started looking bored in the middle of the fight.

"Fight back!" Teito growled as his lunge at the blond missed again. He was tired of being the one always attacking because none of his attacks ever hit. Frau always looked so relaxed too, like Teito wasn't anything to worry about.

It was obvious that Frau was strong but he didn't have to rub it in Teito's face.

A blow of fire-red zaiphon from Teito created a small crater in Frau's wake. As Teito backed off to take a breath, Frau started speaking. "You're always so angry when you fight. If you calm down you might actually get somewhere," the bishop advised.

Teito glowered him from behind limp, sweat-damp bangs. "What are you talking about? I'm not angry."

A blond eyebrow was cocked at him. "Aren't you?"

It was the fact that Frau had that serious light in his eyes again that Teito sighed and stopped to take an account of himself.

He was hot all over and his blood was thrumming in his veins but that was normal when exercising, wasn't it? His pulse seemed to beat a tattoo in his ears though and the heat was concentrated in his head. His hands twitched as if they wanted—what?

_A sword_, Teito realized with growing horror. He had used a short sword as a battle sklave when he was younger. It was standard issue and he used to hate it because it made a huge mess, much more so than regular zaiphon.

This wasn't just anger like Frau thought it was. It was bloodlust, Teito thought.

Frau stepped forward at the expression on Teito's face. "Brat, are you o—." Frau froze and spun around as he realized someone was watching them.

"Well, that wasn't very interesting," Ayanami's second-in-command Hyuuga said with a grin. "Aya-tan could probably show you guys a thing or too about sparring."

The man himself stood a little behind Hyuuga, his cold eyes locked on Frau.

.

.

**OMAKE:**

Labrador had healing zaiphon, Castor had manipulation zaiphon and Frau had regular attack zaiphon.

Teito was only familiar with Frau's zaiphon since he had attack zaiphon as well. To demonstrate to Teito what their differences in zaiphon entailed, they ran a little skit.

While the bishops were explaining to Teito what the differences were they must have decided to show him instead because Castor and Frau started fighting halfway through.

Frau threw blue slices of zaiphon at Castor, who jumped out of the way and retaliated by summoning his dolls.

"This must be manipulation zaiphon," Teito wondered aloud as Castor spun the dolls after the panicked looking Frau, who did the smart thing and ran for it.

The blond bishop was doing his best to outrun the dolls and destroyed quite a few but then Castor summoned a whole army of them and promptly drowned Frau in dolls to end the fight. Frau was spitting mad but he held off on attacking Castor again to let Labrador tend to his wounds with his healing zaiphon.

"No need to be a sore loser," Castor said smugly.

"Just wait till I get you without your dolls." Frau scowled.

Teito watched avidly as the healing light from Labrador's hands neatly erased Frau's cuts and bruises as it passed over them. "So that's healing zaiphon," the boy noted quietly, nodding.

When they were done, Teito turned to the bishops and said to them happily, "I understand the differences in zaiphon now. Thank you for showing me. I thought you guys were really fighting for a moment there, but I get it now."

As Teito walked away, the bishops looked confusedly at his retreating back.

"What?" said Frau.

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AN: So I read the manga for the first time in literally _years_ and had to catch up on about 40 chapters. Man, did things get interesting! It made me feel a bit depressed since both this and my booth story felt dull in comparison. There wasn't enough action to level out the gushy stuff I kept throwing in and I felt the plot wasn't going anywhere. Let's hope things get more interesting from here on out.


	10. Chapter 10

When Frau saw Ayanami his hands immediately moved towards Teito to—_shield-him-hide-him-do-something—_before he retracted them, inwardly berating himself. He wasn't the kind of person who could afford to act purely on his instincts. Half the time he didn't know if the instincts were entirely his own.

"What are you doing here?" Frau said stiffly, trying to be subtle as he moved forward and blocked most of Teito from their view. He probably failed because Ayanami's cold gaze had been locked on them since he arrived. Frau returned the look narrowly. This was the man that had left Teito practically catatonic in the restaurant the day they met for lunch. He had no more misconceptions on whether Ayanami posed a threat or not.

As the times Frau had seen him before, Ayanami was dressed in his black military uniform, cap and all. The weather was cool enough for it now, but it made one wonder if he dressed in full uniform even in the summer heat. No one would need the outfit to know Ayanami was military. You could see it in the way he took in his surroundings with systematic precision, in his brutal efficiency, in the way his very presence raised your heartbeat as your body tried to warn you of the nearby danger.

Ayanami looked amused. "No need to be so wary. I just thought I would take a look at the training my fiancé is undertaking. I still find it strange you bishops are going out of your way to do so much for him." Frau saw Teito flinch out the corner of his eye at the word fiancé.

"It's not much trouble really. It's good for the both of us to get some exercise." Frau's flinty expression belied his light words but he wasn't trying to win any acting awards.

"Exercise." Ayanami's tone dripped disdain. In that truly unnerving way he had, Ayanami's expression cleared like someone had wiped it clean in one stroke. "Excuse my interruption then. If you don't mind my watching, please continue."

Frau glanced at Teito who looked up at him at the same time from where he had been gazing steadily at the ground. If not for Frau's control he would have recoiled because Teito's eyes were nearly black with distress. His previous encounter with Ayanami must have been worse than Frau thought because the boy looked the way abused animals did when they knew exactly what kind of punishment to expect.

Alright then, Frau decided. He slapped a hand on Teito's shoulder and squeezed in what he hoped was a reassuring manner before he turned back to Ayanami. "I think we're done for the day." The grin he gave them was unapologetic and more bared teeth than any actual humor.

"The kid seems pretty tired so if you don't mind, I'll take him in to get some rest." Without waiting for a reply, Frau pushed gently at Teito in the opposite direction of their guests. "Let's go."

"Wait," Ayanami ordered and Frau reluctantly stopped, not turning around.

"I brought a few garments for my fiancé. If you would, see that he wears them for our next meal together." It wasn't so much a request as a command and Frau bristled at the audacity of the man to order him around.

"Why tell _me_ this? Why not tell his father?" Frau retorted, not even bothering to be polite anymore.

"I have, but I thought it would be prudent to tell his ever-present bishop tutor as well," Ayanami said with an audible sneer in his voice. "Then, until next time." Seemingly satisfied to have the last word, Ayanami left the way he came without further comment. His second on the other hand dropped a cheerful, "Toodles!" as he followed Ayanami out.

When Frau could no longer feel their presence the tension stiffening his body let out. "At least they left quickly enough," Frau muttered bitterly. Running a hand roughly through his hair, he turned his attention to the silent boy.

"You okay, brat?"

When Teito didn't answer, choosing instead to stare at the ground, Frau eyed him carefully. He didn't know how to deal with emotionally-damaged kids, especially not ones like Teito who could hardly be called a kid despite all of Frau's jibes about his age. He'd gone through more than most adults Frau knew. Somehow though, Teito had retained a childlike curiosity and a crippling naivety about the world. It made Frau want to protect him like some kind of blond spiky-haired mama bear.

Frau teased him lightly, "I don't blame you for running when you found out you were being engaged to that guy of all people. I would've run too, straight to the next continent." He jabbed a thumb at the horizon to demonstrate, and Frau expected Teito to call him something rude and storm off as usual but the boy surprised him by abruptly pushing him away and snapping with real anger.

"Then why did you stop me!"

The sudden fury caught Frau off guard, but Teito was clenching his teeth in a way that looked like he was holding back tears more than yells. Frau glanced at Teito's fingers and wasn't surprised to see red energy sparking around them. It was easier to feel angry than anything else when times were harsh, Frau knew personally.

Sympathy made Frau's frown softer. "Look, do you remember what I told you the first time?"

Teito was breathing deeply through his nose. "What."

"I'm pretty sure I lectured you on this already. And I don't give out many lectures so try to remember when I do."

Teito was still looking betrayed but he gathered himself enough to answer. "You told me that it was too dangerous." His expression showed just what he thought about _that_.

"I said that you were _unprepared_," Frau corrected. "If you're going to run out on an engagement to one of the most powerful people in the _country,_ seeing as Ayanami is pretty high up in the military, you should have a better plan than just blindly running out into the night with nothing but the clothes on your back." His words echoed what he had said that night in Teito's room and he could see exactly the moment that Teito connected them.

The zaiphon at his fingers zapped out and Teito gaped up at the Frau as he recognized what Frau had been trying to tell him before and what he was telling him now.

"You're saying I should run away, but with a plan?" Teito said incredulously.

Frau looked serious for all of five seconds before he raised both hands in the air in front of him and said pointblank, "Plausible deniability."

"…You're kidding me."

"Plausible. Deniability."

"This is ridiculous." Teito was about to storm into the house and leave Frau behind for all he cared but something snagged on his collar and stopped him a step past the bishop. He tugged his collar out of Frau's hand, unamused.

"Let go."

Frau let him go easily enough, though he said, "Just know that if you need help at any time, I'll be ready." What made Teito stop was the subtle weight of an oath in the words. Teito looked up and found Frau gazing at him with a strangely soft look.

Caught off guard, Teito found himself speechless and staring once again. "Frau?"

Frau's lips curved. "Plausible deniability, kid."

Teito's heart traitorously sped up .

Of course then Frau called him a damn brat and Teito ended up storming into the house like he was going to, but after he made it up to his room and closed the door behind him he leaned against the door to catch his breath. His heart was still pounding—from what, surprise?—and his hands were suddenly clammy. He wiped them on his pants absentmindedly as he went over the new knowledge that Frau was not only telling him to plan an escape from his engagement to Ayanami but that he was hinting that he would help him do it. If he hadn't been joking to begin with.

Frau had looked serious though, his gaze impossibly blue and as tangible as a touch. Teito shook his head and slapped his cheeks lightly to get his head together. "Focus! You have to figure out what to do!" Teito told himself. He needed a battle plan, so to speak.

_"You can't just take this lying down, Teito! Aren't you angry at all? Doesn't this make you mad?" Mikage cried, slapping his hands on the table as he sprang up in indignation._

_Teito's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked up at his brother. "Should it?"_

At the sudden memory, Teito's mouth twitched despite himself. It hadn't been funny then, but how frustrated must Mikage have been when Teito hadn't even realized he should have been upset over his situation back then. It had been a good three years since the first time he met Mikage—and what a surprise that had been for both of them.

Teito wasn't the same person he used to be. Now, he was a lot more angry. Or perhaps he had always been angry and he just hadn't realized until recently.

Teito jumped when someone knocked on the door he was leaning against. Patting at where his rabbit-fast heart was still thumping from the shock, he let himself calm down before he opened the door. To his relief it was only the maid with Ayanami's clothes.

There were at least four different outfits in surprisingly bright colors. Nothing was in black. Teito rubbed the fabric of a pale green shirt between his fingers contemplatively. He had been wearing nothing but black for months.

_"Is this Ayanami's way of telling me to get over Mikage's death?"_ Teito thought with a hot spark of irritation and his fingers tingled. It would have been so easy to slash up all these clothes with zaiphon without anyone knowing.

He picked up another shirt, this one a rich burgundy red. He remembered how Ayanami had told him before that he liked how Teito looked when he was covered in blood. The shirt dropped from his listless fingers. Teito kicked the clothes into the corner with the rest of Ayanami's presents and went to wash up. No one would know if he spent longer than usual scrubbing in the shower.

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Ayanami's gifts continued to pile up in the corner of his room. Teito didn't bother to touch any of them and just threw out the perishable presents like food and flowers. Teito despised them, constant reminder of his unwanted engagement as they were.

As if testament to the trouble the man had brought to Teito's life, the gifts directly led to Teito being awoken late one night by a loud _crash_.

Teito jolted to awareness and realizing someone was in his room, practically fell out of bed with his arms up in a sloppy, sleep-heavy imitation of the basic battle stance. "Who is it?...Frau?" Teito cried as he recognized the cursing voice of the long and spiky-headed silhouette in the darkness. As his eyes became adjusted to the dimness he saw that Frau had one arm around his stomach and he was hopping slightly on one foot, the other dangling.

"Why the hell do you have so much shit on the ground? I tripped on something and nearly killed myself," Frau growled as he kicked away some of Ayanami's gifts that were in his path. The pile had grown so large that it spilled to half of Teito's room and cluttered most of the space before his window. It was obvious that Frau had snuck into his room through the window instead of entering through the door like a sane person.

Teito's sleepiness really didn't help his growing irritation. "Why are you in my room anyways?"

Frau twitched at his tone and swiftly did an about-face, heading towards the window. From all his encounters with Castor's temper, Frau could recognize danger when it presented itself. "No reason, just jumped into the wrong room. Actually, you should go back to sleep. Night, kid," Frau said hastily, but Teito jumped out and grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe.

"Wait, Frau, _wait_, what is that?" Teito's eyes strained in the dark.

Frau turned around when Teito tugged and whatever he saw before was gone. "What is what?" Frau said dubiously.

Teito blinked hard and shook his head and let the bishop go. "No, it's nothing. I thought I saw…." His voice trailed off uncertainly because he wasn't sure exactly _what_ he had seen.

A large hand fell on his head and the long fingers tousled his hair gently for a few precious moments that Teito, in his tiredness, tilted his head toward. Frau said, not unkindly, "Go to sleep, brat. I'll see you tomorrow." Then Teito was being ushered toward his bed, where the pillow was soft and yielding under his cheek and the blankets a warm weight. His eyelids promptly grew heavy.

He saw Frau's long form vanish out his window and closed his eyes to sleep, but behind his eyelids what he had seen in the darkness earlier replayed. It might have been a trick of light, but for a moment before Frau had turned away he had seen a very long, wickedly curved blade in Frau's hand. It had gleamed in the darkness, like it was greeting him. It had _cast a shadow._

Was Teito imagining things? Better yet, Teito thought, what had Frau been doing in his room?

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.

"Sorry about that," Labrador said sheepishly when Frau reappeared, looking a little worse for wear. "It was a bit quicker than I expected it would be."

"It's fine," said Frau gruffly as he rubbed his stomach where he had fallen on something pointy. His stubbed toe was throbbing too. Sometimes he forgot that his very human body could easily get injured, no matter how powerful he felt in his Zehel form. "I don't think Teito saw me as Zehel, and I got to the Kor before I tripped and woke him up. So, all clear." Frau splayed out his hands like an umpire calling "safe".

"Another Kor," murmured Castor as he joined them on the roof. His lips pursed. "That makes it three for just this week. They're getting stronger."

Frau crossed his arms. "Or, the barrier we felt when we arrived is getting weaker. The kid told me that they've always had Kor in the forest. If the barrier is getting weaker, then the roads and the surrounding grounds are getting more vulnerable."

Labrador said worriedly, "It might be both." His lavender eyes watched their surroundings avidly for any more Kor sneak attacks. "The Kor getting in are much stronger than average, and unfortunately determined to get to Teito."

"Still doubt that he has Mikhail's Eye?" Frau sent Castor a sardonic look.

"Be quiet, Frau." Castor stretched his fingers innocuously, making Frau instinctively look over his shoulder for a looming puppet.

Frau glowered. "We have to get him out of here if he is." This had been a point of contention for the past few weeks, with Castor arguing that they couldn't just kidnap Teito, Frau arguing that they could and Labrador stuck between the two.

"It's not kidnapping if he's going voluntarily!" Frau was butting heads with Castor like he could make the other bishop submit through sheer force.

"His father will see it as kidnapping!" Castor butt back.

"Screw his father! We're doing good if we help Teito escape him!" Labrador sighed as they fell into their usual quarrel and looked as if they had regressed to their fifteen-year-old selves when they had quibbled enormously over the bishop exam.

"The state won't see it like that and you know it." Castor shot back, glasses flashing dangerously. "What happens when we take him with us and he's forced back home anyways?"

"It would be worse for Teito if that happened," Labrador input quietly.

"We'll hide him! No one has to _know_."

"It's not that simple."

"It is," insisted Frau and he was completely right because for him it was. Frau had lived outside the law almost his entire life, including his past one.

Castor scoffed. "We'll be fugitives." The twist of his mouth showed just how much Castor liked that idea. "And like it won't be awfully suspicious when we disappear at the same time that the lord's son runs away."

"It's only suspicious if you act suspicious. And it's all in the name of God anyways, right?" Frau ignored the minor fact that he still didn't believe in God. The other two bishops sent him flat looks to show they weren't fooled.

"And would you be willing to make Teito a fugitive from the law?" Castor asked solemnly, knowing that it was a harsh place to prod. When Frau didn't reply, Castor continued mercilessly, "Because that's what he would become. He would never have the chance for a normal life if he's running from his father."

The blond said with clear discontent, "He wouldn't have a normal life, period. If I could change that I would, but admit it, Castor. What kind of life could he have if he was the container of the Eye of Mikhail? You know it probably means he isn't even the Lord Klein's real son." That got both the other bishops' attention.

"Frau, you think…?"

Castor hid his eyes with the shine from his glasses. "I was uncertain myself, but it's too early to tell, isn't it?"

"The most fucking beautiful soul I've ever seen," Frau released in a harsh breath, like it pained him to say it aloud. "No offense to Klein, but what are the odds that his son has that kind of soul?"

"Ahh, aren't you just being biased now?"

Frau challenged, "Am I?"

The three fell to silence. Teito's soul _was_ abnormally bright, and there had only been one soul that came close in similarity of strength—the soul of the lost prince of Raggs.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I am being too quick," Frau allowed with a chagrined smile. "I could be completely wrong." Or he could be completely right, but none of them were willing to take the chance admitting that yet. Putting that kind of hope on Teito was unfair for the boy. There was the missing prince of a destroyed kingdom, and then there was Teito, who already had the burden of a beautiful soul, the Eye of Mikhail and a forced engagement. He didn't need any more on his plate.

It was Labrador's turn to take watch, so he stayed on the roof as the other two retired for the night. It was a cloudy night, which made it more difficult to keep watch as the shifting clouds could hide the Kor's movements. For a few good minutes Labrador didn't notice that one of the trees in the courtyard had a certain spiky-headed form adorning it.

In Labrador's defense, Frau was being particularly still and careful in order not to be noticed. Smiling, Labrador left him alone. In the morning he would share some heavily caffeinated tea with Frau and make one or two cheerful jibes about Frau's secretly golden heart.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Lights, camera, ACTION.

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Frau dropped his head into his hands. "I should have expected this."

Castor and Labrador froze in their tracks, and the expression on Castor's face when the redhead swiveled around wasn't murderous only because Frau hadn't yet explained himself. Below, Lord Klein's men were in a frenzy getting ready to ride into town.

"That's not the reaction a person has when he finds out his charge has run away," Castor said silkily as he stepped closer. "Frau. What. Did. You. Do?" By the last word his face was inches from the other bishop's, teeth bared like a cat's.

The blond peeked weary blue eyes at him between his fingers. "I may or may not have encouraged Teito to run away when he had the chance."

The wave of dolls that erupted around them was sort of expected by then but it was halted by Labrador's gentle hand on Castor's twitching fingers. "We don't have time for this right now. We have to find Teito before the Kor do." Castor closed his eyes as if in pain and sighed, but let Labrador turn him around.

"I understand, let's go. We'll deal with you and your great stupidity later." Castor shot Frau through with a golden glare. They left the roof in a hurry to get to the stables where the hawkziles were.

Frau let his hand run over his face and through his hair. "Goddamn brat. I told him I would help him. Why didn't he come to me for help?" The rooftop didn't answer him and Frau was aware that the one person that could was missing. When he looked up, his eyes caught the forest edge.

He couldn't see them but he could feel them. Deep in the forest, the Kor were stirring and Frau's arm was pulsing with the scythe's hunger. They needed to find Teito as soon as possible.

. .

Running away had been easier in theory than in execution. When he snuck into the cart while the mail courier was distracted, Teito hadn't planned for how little there would be to hide behind. He lay stiff as a board under the packages for the entire ride because of how nervous he was about being caught. Luckily for Teito he had picked a day when the courier was in a good mood and not looking for very obvious stowaways in his cart. The entire trip had been filled with cheerful whistling.

When they crossed the town borders, the boy sighed quietly in relief. With hope, he still had until the night for his father to realize he had run away. What Teito didn't know was that sometime during the ride, Ayanami's carriage had passed them in the opposite direction towards the manor. By the time Teito reached the town, the manor was already in an uproar over the discovery of his disappearance.

Obliviously, Teito spent his time lingering in the town's marketplace since he had time still until the next train came. Not that he could buy anything. He had only enough money for a ticket to the next town over and what little was left over had to be conserved for food. Teito wasn't too worried about his monetary situation, thanks to Ayanami of all people. Three pairs of shirts and two pairs of pants were layered atop one another beneath his plain brown cloak. The rest of Ayanami's clothes were in his bag. Since they were of good cut and quality, Teito planned to literally sell the clothes off his back when he needed to.

In direct sunlight, Teito started to feel hot and itchy under his cloak. Everyone else around him was dressed lightly, making him aware of how out of place he must have looked in his bulky outfit. Teito didn't take off his hood but he opened his cloak and flapped the edges to get some air in. Crowded as it was, no one noticed him, or so he thought.

He kept close to the carts so he could dodge the sun in their shade. When he was drooling over one of the carts filled with sweet-smelling fruits, he was surprised by a hand grabbing him by the arm. Instinctively, Teito knocked the person's arm away and spun out of their reach.

"Who are you!" Teito demanded, arms raised. The other person, who was a boy about the same age as Teito, widened his eyes.

"What an excitable person. This yours, shorty?" He waved a familiar object before Teito's eyes. Teito blinked as he realized that it was his money pouch that the other was holding.

"Ahh!" Immediately, his hand went to the pocket where he had secured it and as expected, the pocket was empty.

"Thought so," the stranger said derisively and he tossed the pouch to Teito who caught it by reflex. By its jangle, none of the coins in it had been taken. "Next time, don't keep touching the spot where your money is hidden. You're just asking to get it stolen, young master," the stranger mocked with a tip of an imaginary hat. Seeming satisfied with his deed, he turned to leave and his long blond braid waved in farewell behind him.

Dumbfounded, Teito barely managed to stutter out a quick, "T-thank you!" before the other disappeared into the market crowd. The women managing the fruit stalls tittered at him to be more careful, making the boy flush as he realized they had all witnessed him getting scolded. He must have looked like such a naïve young lord for not even noticing he had been thieved.

Discreetly, Teito checked for his train ticket and was relieved to find it safe in the pouch. If it hadn't been for that strange boy it would have been a disaster. Determined not to get it stolen again, Teito kept the pouch firmly in hand as he headed towards the station to wait out the rest of the time until the next train.

The sunny, bustling marketplace didn't seem as safe as he thought it before.

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"This isn't good, this isn't good at all," Labrador murmured when their hawkziles reached the town. They could feel the seals that protected the entire town were weaker than they were earlier.

"What's causing this? Is it the kid?"

Castor shook his head. "I don't know either. With hope though, Teito will be inside one of the buildings. Since the buildings themselves have seals he should be moderately safer in there."

Frau clicked his tongue and Labrador said worriedly, "And if he's out in the open?"

Castor's glasses flashed and he revved his hawkzile. "Then we hurry."

They took off in different directions, in hopes that they would catch sight of Teito from the air. There were three of them, they had the speed of the hawkziles and the town wasn't so large that they should have had that much trouble finding one kid. Teito though had a penchant for attracting trouble. He proved them wrong by being almost impossible to find and by the time they caught up to him he had outed himself by revealing the Eye of Mikhail to an entire station full of people.

Frau would have been more annoyed if he hadn't been impressed despite himself.

"Teito seems almost as good as attracting trouble as you were when we were young, Frau," Labrador remarked when they lit upon the scene.

Frau scoffed. "Just take care of the Kor before they start munching on people. I'll get the brat." Intently, the blond stalked off toward Teito.

"I wish he wouldn't say it like that," Castor lamented. Labrador chuckled and the two rushed at the Kor together, bascules in hand.

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"This is a bit slow, isn't it?" Hyuuga drawled from his seat across from Ayanami. Since he was sitting with his back to the front of the carriage, he didn't see the two coachmen in the front exchange nervous looks.

Ayanami didn't reply, but shot him a chilling look before going back to gazing out the window. Hyuuga's eyebrows went up in surprise. Ayanami usually would have ignored him for the stating the obvious. Hyuuga smiled around his lollipop.

"Don't be nervous, Aya-tan. We'll find the little lord before long."

That actually earned him a flare of bloodlust and an order of, "Be quiet, Hyuuga."

"Shutting up now," Hyuuga said demurely, though he turned towards the front and rapped on the wood. "You guys wouldn't mind hurrying it up a tad, would you? Aya-tan's getting impatient." The smile the coachmen saw aimed at them might as well have been the smile of a demon and immediately, they whipped the horses to quicken.

"Yes, sir!"

Ayanami glanced over. "Hyuuga."

"Yes?" Hyuuga turned back around to face his superior in surprise.

"It would be faster if we had less people on board."

Hyuuga considered Ayanami's comment for a second before breaking into a gleeful expression behind his dark shades. "You're absolutely right! Why didn't I think of that?"

Just a few moments later, the coachmen found themselves tumbled headfirst into the roadside. Scraped up, bloody and dusty, they watched blearily as the carriage sped ahead in the distance, the dark head of Lord Ayanami's second-in-command at the front where they had been sitting.

"When we get to town, have a ship readied. This carriage is too slow."

"Sure thing, Aya-tan."

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Hakuren finished his errands and was on his way home laden with bags when he saw red flashes of light coming from the train station he normally passed. "Someone's battling." Hakuren realized and ran towards the source of the light.

To his surprise, the zaiphon user was the kid he saw in the marketplace earlier. Surrounding him was a small crowd of people that was shuffling towards him with eerily stiff and jerky movements. The kid was throwing zaiphon at them to get them to back off, but either he was holding back or the people were sturdier than they looked because as soon as they were knocked down they easily got to their feet again.

The kid was yelling at them, looking more agitated by the second. "Get back! I don't want to hurt you! Get away from me!" Somehow the crowd had cornered him against the wall. The rings of red light around both hands pulsed but his crowders didn't seem threatened. One lunged and actually managed to grab the boy's wrist and the boy started _screaming._

Hakuren knew what they were then and he roared, "Get away from him!" hitting them with the bags in his hands for lack of a better weapon. It was sheer surprise at his sudden appearance that managed to get Hakuren between the crowd of Kor and the boy. Now that he was facing them, he could see the sinister red gleam of their eyes that marked them as Kor-possessed. He had never seen Kor in daytime and never so many at once.

Gulping, Hakuren raised the market bags again and tried to look threatening. "Stay away, or I'll whack you into the next century," Hakuren warned. When he glanced behind him, the boy was collapsed on the ground and holding his wrist where the Kor had grabbed him.

"Hey, shorty, you alright?" Hakuren asked in vain for all the response he got. The boy was as still as stone.

"Snap out of it! I'm going to need your help. Don't play damsel in distress now of all times," Hakuren hissed as the Kor-possessed started to shuffle closer again.

"Don't get in the way, boy," one of them croaked.

"This one is ours. Move," said another, and the other Kor joined in,

"Move out of the way."

"Move."

"Move."

Hakuren reared back before remembering himself.

"Like hell!" He threw down the bags and let his hands light up with zaiphon. He knocked his braid back over his shoulder as he raised his hands before him to attack. "I am Hakuren Oak. I move for no one," Hakuren declared and sliced his hand through the air, sending a sharp wave of blue zaiphon at them. They were hardly deterred but he threw another wave and another, keeping up the offensive. He hoped to keep them at bay long enough for him to find a chance for them to run.

Behind Hakuren, to his relief the boy stirred. "Awake yet, princess?" Hakuren blinked away some sweat that crept into his eye.

The boy sounded strangely hostile when he answered. "Something has tainted my master. Who dared…?"

Confused, Hakuren glanced back and promptly choked at what he saw. Unfortunately, one of the Kor took his slip as a chance to charge and knock Hakuren aside. The breath whooshed out of him as his body slapped against the concrete ground. Hakuren was on his side, gasping like a fish out of water when he witnessed the Kor reach for the boy.

The Kor was torn apart before it could touch him. Hakuren squeezed his eyes tightly just once to make sure he was seeing right. When he opened them again, it was all the same.

The boy had his hand outstretched, the red stone in it glowing, and there were spindly, branch-like _things_ growing out of his hand. He was both awesome and terrifying, and Hakuren was sure he had never felt so intimidated in his life. Then he heard the wet _thunk_ of the Kor's host body fall to the ground. It was pierced through like a slice of Swiss cheese. The host had been an elderly man, with a face as crumpled and fragile-looking as Hakuren's own grandfather's. His legs were shaking but somehow Hakuren managed to scramble to his feet.

"Stop!" he cried. The boy—_or whatever he was_—gazed at him dispassionately with eyes as red as the stone embedded in his hand. He pulled his appendages out of the fallen body of the Kor's host with a slick sound that made Hakuren cringe.

"Yes? What do you want with my master? Do you dare to harm him as well?" Hakuren started to back away when those ruby eyes narrowed viciously in his direction.

"I don't mean any harm," Hakuren promised. "I would ask you not to harm the possessed though. They host the Kor, but they're still people."

The boy looked suspiciously at him before growling, "They tried to hurt my master! They tainted his fair body! They do not deserve to live anymore!" The red stone in his hand flashed and the spindly appendages suddenly grew to a monstrous length like a tree in fast-forward and hovered in the air above them.

"Everyone deserves to live," Hakuren retorted weakly, but it looked like the boy wasn't listening anymore. Bracing himself, he wound a thick band of zaiphon around each hand. It didn't look like he was going to get out of this fully intact. Hakuren didn't realize there was another person present until he laid a hand on Hakuren's head and patted it in passing.

"Thanks, kid, but I've got it from here. Take a break." Recognizing the voice, Hakuren stopped and gaped.

The man took his place in front of Hakuren, facing down the red-eyed boy with his bascule leaned against his shoulder.

"Hey there. You been waiting a while?"

.

.

"You know you can't actually destroy the Kor with force," Frau said as he casually twirled the bascule in his hands.

Teito, or rather, Mikhail looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Since he recognized Frau, Mikhail had reduced the size of his appendages so they didn't so much loom over their entire area as just over Teito's body. The fact that he hadn't retracted them completely showed he still didn't trust Frau with Teito's safety. Frau didn't blame him because the feeling was mutual.

Reaching out with the bascule, Frau ran the head of it gently over the fallen body and the Kor that had blended into the back of its host, weak as it was with the death of its host, disintegrated into dust. "Kor are like ghosts, they can't be harmed physically," the bishop explained patiently, "You can only banish them if you've been trained. Trying to attack them the way you did won't do anything except harm their host bodies." The expression he looked up with wasn't mild.

Mikhail seemed to understand what Frau was getting at because he sneered and said, "I know that. I just don't care. They were going to hurt my precious master. I will destroy anyone who dares to harm him, Kor or human."

Frau frowned as he re-shouldered his bascule. "Teito would care if you hurt people, even if you were trying to protect him."

Mikhail visibly recoiled at Frau's words. Balling up Teito's fists, he spat, "My master would understand! I have to protect him, and even if I must dirty our hands…." He trailed off as he caught sight of and stared at Teito's fists and realized how small they were, even when he spread them out so the palms were open to the air.

Sometimes it was too easy to forget how young his beloved master was, Mikhail remembered.

Frau noted his reaction and said slyly, "Even if you have to dirty his hands?" Mikhail bristled defensively, but bit back on his retort. His master was injured and Mikhail tired of arguing with ignorant minds. He decided on tactical retreat.

"Che, I'll leave him with you now, but I'll be watching you!" Mikhail warned as he turned Teito's body away. "That annoying guy can't keep me away anymore since he's too weak now. His fault for trying to restrain a god."

Frau straightened at that. "Wait, who are you talking about?"

Mikhail ignored him. "Just remember to purify my master's body as he's been tainted by the Kor," Mikhail said as he pulled in his bloody appendages, "It's not life-threatening so I haven't purified him myself. It would be troublesome for my master if my stone got tainted and had to be separated from him." Teito's eyes closed and the stone dug back into Teito's skin as the boy himself collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Teito!" Frau caught him before his head knocked into the ground. "Brat, you okay?" He checked him over for injuries but Teito seemed fine. Frau pulled the boy into his arms and stood up, grumbling at how light he was.

"Remind me to get some real food in you," Frau told the unconscious boy.

"Bishop Frau, is he alright?" Frau almost forgot about the other kid. He was dressed plainly and had a familiar pale-haired braid.

"The employee from the restaurant," Frau said as he recognized him.

The boy bowed with the kind of perfect form one only saw from the noble-blooded. "My name is Hakuren Oak." When he straightened himself his hair, pointy features and the silver dots in his ears made it so obvious that he belonged to the Oak family that Frau was surprised he hadn't noticed the similarities before.

"Pleasure, I'm Frau," Frau offered.

Hakuren lit up. "I know, you're Bishop Frau of the Barsburg Church in District 7. You hold the highest score of all time in the bishop examination." Frau reared back in surprise at the sheer admiration that was being aimed at him. "It's an honor to meet you, sir. I'm sort of a fan of yours," Hakuren finished sheepishly.

Frau blinked. "Uhh." He didn't often run into fans of his, if he had fans at all.

"Actually, sir, I'd like to give you something. I carry it around just in case so that I could give it to you when I finally met you." Before Frau could consider the oddity of _that_ sentence, Hakuren slipped out a book from one of his bags and offered it to Frau with a flourish.

Frau pushed Teito over his shoulder so he had his hands free and took the book. When he opened it, stars came to his eyes. Now he understood. This was a _true fan._ He held the glorious porn to his chest and grasped Hakuren's hand in a comrade's grip.

"Kid after my own heart, I will treasure this. Many thanks," Frau said seriously.

"No problem at all, Bishop Frau," Hakuren returned just as solemnly, looking a tad triumphant.

"Frau." The two looked over at where Castor and Labrador had finished with the other Kor-possessed and were now watching them in exasperation, and in Castor's case, barely restrained irritation.

"Really?"

Frau whipped the porn inside his duster. "Nothing to worry your little head about, doll-freak. Anyways…the brat? He got a little contact from the Kor. Probably he won't need more than a splash." He motioned towards the boy draped over his shoulder.

Labrador pulled a bottle from the mini apothecary storage that was his coat. "I've got it. Put him down over here, Frau. Gently, please. Now, where…ah, I see it." With deft fingers, he pulled out the cork and poured the bottle's contents right over Teito's wrist where the skin was slightly reddened. The holy water hissed on contact and thick black fumes rose out of Teito's skin like they were being poured into the air.

"The Kor was strong, but not nearly as strong as something like a Wars so Teito will be just fine," Labrador said with a relieved smile. "Thank goodness we found him before anything worse could happen." Carefully, Labrador swept his fingers across Teito's forehead to brush his hair away.

Seeing this, Hakuren turned away with a slight blush. Bishop Labrador was definitely the mothering kind of person, he thought to himself. Hakuren had thought so before when he had glimpsed the bishop at the Church but it was different when Hakuren was seeing the proof with his own eyes.

Unbeknownst to Hakuren, Frau and Castor were exchanging troubled glances. They were getting too attached to Teito. What would they do when this attachment got in the way of their duties?

Frau got up from his crouch beside Teito, wincing as his joints creaked ominously. He wasn't as young as he used to be. He dug out a packet of cigarettes as Castor calmly regarded the rest of the train station.

"So, what are we going to about them?" Frau jerked his head towards the station's other inhabitants, most of which were looking anxiously in the bishops' direction.

"I'm not sure yet," Castor admitted mildly, "But no doubt they all saw when the Eye of Mikhail appeared. The entire town will find out soon enough and then so will Lord Klein and Ayanami."

"Man, Klein isn't going to be happy when his son becomes the talk of the town right after running out on his engagement."

Hakuren jerked to attention so abruptly that it made the bishops jump. "This is _Teito Klein_?" His violet eyes roved over Teito's face like he was seeing him for the first time. He slapped a hand to his face and groaned, "The world is such a small place."

"How do you know Teito?" Frau said, but before Hakuren could answer Labrador interrupted.

"I think we should find another place to talk first," Labrador announced as he stood up with Teito in his arms. "Unless I'm mistaken the people over there are calling the authorities."

They all looked over and found that indeed they were. Some of the people looked like they were raring to march on over to their group with or without the police. Frau, for one, had no desire to beat or get beat by a bunch of townies so he took Teito from Labrador, threw him over his shoulder once again and headed for the exit.

"Time to go then!"

"You wouldn't happen to know any good places to stay out of sight for a while, would you, young Master Oak?" Castor asked politely as they walked swiftly out the station after Frau, trying not to look even more suspicious than they already did. By the sounds coming from behind them, they were failing.

Hakuren grimaced. "I know just the place, sir. And please, call me Hakuren."

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AN: I've been on nothing but ramen and coffee for the past two days because of all these updates. You people don't deserve omake. XP

...Don't hurt me, I'll get you omake next chapter.


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